Kingdom Hearts III: The Skeleton Key
by Flamberge
Summary: Sora, Kairi and Riku have been separated, each going their own way with their own allies and enemies. They must comtend with Maleficent, now ruler of Kingdom Hearts and the Chasers. Chapter 30: Death and Life. SoKai, VenAqua, etc.
1. Prologue: Fall of a Hero

Prologue: Fall of a Hero

Sora groaned as he slipped off of the bridge. He saw the white door to Kingdom Hearts above him, and mangled bodies of his friends tangled up in the huge spider web of metal chains below him. A trail of crimson blood rose from the spear in his chest. With his Keyblade gone, he knew that he was going to die. He wanted to cry, even to shed a single tear for all that was now lost, but he couldn't give his murderer the pleasure of knowing that Sora was already dead in mind and spirit. The corrosive black Nothing ate at him, tearing holes in his clothing and flesh.

Sora landed hard on the lattice of chains, the silver barbed spear nearly dislodging itself from his chest, only to shred his internal organ into a worse condition than they already were. He saw Kairi's dead body beside him and grasped her remaining hand tightly.

Above him, the man in the fur coat looked over the side of the bridge. He pointed a single finger at Sora, grinning maniacally. Sound returned to Sora as a screeching noise like fingernails being dragged over a chalkboard resounded throughout the demiworld…

A/N: Well? I'm back, and with a new story to boot! Yes, it will be darker than my last one and yes, I would love it if you reviewed (wink wink, nudge nudge.)


	2. Chapter 1: The Letter

I don't own anything in here but Commander A.K and the plot, 'kay?

Chapter 1: The Letter

Sora woke up in a panic, slamming his head on the wall. "Owwwww…" he mumbled, rubbing the newly-forming lump. He stood up and opened the curtains, letting light flood into his cavernous room. Technically speaking it wasn't his room, but it was still a presidential suite in a really fancy hotel, so he didn't mind.

The room was furnished in a garish baby blue, with a massive bed in the far corner. Sora and Riku had been sleeping on the floor on opposite sides of the bed for the whole night. Kairi was sleeping in the bed under several layers of cushions and blankets.

"Ow, my eyes… get rid of the light, Sora…" Riku moaned, throwing a large blue pillow at his friend.

"We've gotta get moving, you guys. If those Imperial freaks catch up to us, we're toast. It's already ten o' clock," Sora explained, "And I know you don't want to stay here. We missed the buffet." Sora added, throwing the pillow back at Riku.

"We WHAT?" Riku yelled, suddenly standing up, fully dressed and packed. Sora beamed.

"Now that I have your attention…" Sora started, "Let's wake Kai up and get the heck out of this dump."

Riku grinned evilly, "Lets."

The two boys moved to one side of the giant bed. They sunk their hands under the mattress and pulled upwards. Kairi tumbled to the other side of the mattress, saved by the tightly tucked-in sheets. "What the hell was that for?" she yelled.

Sora grinned and put his hands behind his head. "Well, see, its two in the afternoon and you weren't up, so we figured…" He was cut off as Kairi leapt out of bed and started to get dressed and pack.

"Why didn't you get me up earlier? We could be on the next world by now! You stupid boys, why can't you ever take anything seriously? If Riku gets caught…" she muttered, as she packed up. "All done! Now let's go!" She grabbed them both and dragged them out of the hotel and into the Gummi Ship.

"What's up, Kairi?" Chip squeaked over the microphone.

"These idiots waited until two in the afternoon to wake me up and now the Imperials could come and take them away and I'd have no one to beat up for being idiots!" Kairi yelled.

"And the winner or the longest and most melodramatic sentence is… Kairi!" Sora whispered into Riku's ear.

"Miss Kairi, it's only nine thirty." Dale squeaked, obviously confused.

"Is it now?" she hissed, turning to Sora and Riku, who were laughing in the corner.

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The large white ship above the heroes watched as the bright red Gummi Ship launched through the stratosphere of the world below. Its commander, a blue-skinned humanoid in a white jumpsuit stared intently at a holographic display panel with an image of the cave on Destiny Islands displayed prominently.

"Shall I give the order to attack, sir?" A white-haired man asked from the bridge deck.

"No, let them go, but hold here for a few more minutes. Saffron?" he asked.

A woman with red hair and a devious look in her eyes walked out from behind the command chair. "Yes, Admiral?" she asked.

"Follow the red Gummi Ship over there. Don't make contact with its crew. Continue pursuing it until I give you further commands. Is that clear?" the blue male asked.

"Yes, Admiral." She said, nodding and vanishing into the shadows.

"A.K. Commander A.K, do you copy?" The blue-skinned man said into a microphone.

"Loud and clear, Admiral. What's up?" A heavily scarred young man in black armor replied his face and shoulders replacing the image of the cave.

"Take your mercenary group and follow the ship that's about to leave the _Chimera's_ hold. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid in her pursuing of the Keys.

"Sure thing, boss." The man stated, severing the holographic transmission.

The blue-skinned man smirked. This was almost too easy.

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On a nearby world, a man in a red jumpsuit used spiderweb to swing from building to building while following a green-armored man on a hoverboard of some sort.

Suddenly the spider person slammed onto the pavement of a back alley. He lifted himself up and looked around. "Hello? I am Spiderman, defender of this city, and I'm not afraid to…" he was cut off as an invisible force slammed him into a wall and tore off his mask. "Who are you?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

A man suddenly appeared out of the shadows. He was dressed in a heavy fur coat and a baseball cap obscured his face. He reached out a hand and Spiderman was lifted into the air. The assailant slowly ran on finger in the air, pointing at Spiderman's scalp. As he did so, Spiderman's head split open, blood spilling over the walls and floor of the alleyway. The scalp popped of and the man in the coat lifted the superhero's brain into the air, splitting it into small chunks. "Easy." He said as he started to eat.

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"Heartless, dead ahead!" Riku yelled from the pilot's seat of the Gummi Ship.

"Kai, you know we were just joking around about the whole two in the afternoon thing, right?" Sora asked Kairi.

"Yeah, Sora. We needed to move and that kind of thing gets me out of bed quick. Just don't do it again, alright?" she replied.

Sora leaned back and, amid the fighting, recalled how they had gotten into this mess.

_Flashback_

_Riku and Sora were on the small island when Kairi came running up to them. "Mail call!" she yelled. "This came for you, Sora." She added, handing him a letter with King Mickey's seal on it._

_Sora,_

_I can only hope that this letter reaches you in time. Even as I write, Disney Castle is under attack by the Emperor. He knows your importance and will to anything to turn you over to his side. Do not listen to anything he says. He's a madman, and will stop at nothing to see you under his command. He's already sent out a draft notice to Riku, and will likely arrive at Destiny Islands shortly after this letter. Get as far away as possible, and don't stop moving. Chip and Dale will be there soon with the Gummi Ship. Get away._

_Yours,_

_King Mickey_

_"Well this sucks." Sora stated after everyone had read the letter._

_"I can't go into the army! I could die!" Riku moaned._

_"Well you heard the King. We had better pack up our stuff. Meet you back here in an hour." Kairi said, and marched off before anyone could argue._

_"Here we go again, huh, Riku." Sora said and looked up. He could see a trail of dust that, presumably, was Riku._

_Sora reached home soon after. He walked upstairs without saying anything to his mom about what was going to happen. In his room, he packed up his belongings and locked the suitcase with his Keyblade. When he got down the stairs, his mom was tidying up in the entry hall. "What's the suitcase for, sweetie?" she asked, dusting an antique driftwood chair._

_Sora took a deep breath before answering, "I'm leaving again, mom. There's a bunch of really bad people coming, and King Mickey had arranged a way for me to get out of here and eventually stop them. I'm really sorry to leave again like this, but I have no choice."_

_His mother was silent for a while, and then she sighed. "I guess I can't keep you here forever. Do what you need to do. I'll be waiting here."_

_End Flashback_

"The Heartless are gone, you guys, but there's something you should see." Riku muttered over the microphone. Sora stood up and made his way to the bridge. Looking out of the windshield, he saw one of the most dreadful sights he had ever seen.

The bombed remains of Disney Castle lay below them. Soldiers in white armor were crawling over the place, stealing what wasn't nailed down. But that wasn't the worst thing. The man who was leading them had a Keyblade!


	3. Chapter 2: Inverse Equation

Chapter 2: Inverse Equation

The man with the Keyblade looked up into the sky. "A Gummi Ship, hm?" he muttered to himself. He motioned to the nearest Stormtrooper Captain and motioned towards the Highwind. All of the white-armored troopers turned and aimed their blasters towards the Ship. Red laser bolts flew towards the enemy, who turned in a series of barrel rolls while returning fire. Soon, nearly all of the Stormtroopers were gone, and the intruder had sustained little to no visible damage. "Damn it all," the man said, pulling out a multicolored dragon scale on a chain. "TIATMAT!" the charm metamorphosed into a huge five-headed dragon. The dragon nodded to the man with its red head and flew towards the enemy.

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"Sora, Kairi! We've got trouble!" Riku yelled into the loudspeaker.

"We're right here, Riku. We can see the dragon. What are we going to do about it?" Sora calmly said.

"You two can get down into the turrets that Chip and Dale aren't in and blast that thing to bits." Riku replied, blasting the white head with all of the firepower he could. The ship began to shake as the blue head slammed into it. Suddenly the cockpit was obscured by ice crystals as the white head breathed onto it.

"Dragons breath fire, not ice, right?" Kairi asked Sora.

"We have to expect anything, especially if this thing's a Heartless. Now come on, we have to get into the turrets!" he responded, running towards the turret ladder.

"Sure, Sora." Kairi said, moving towards the ladder opposite Sora's.

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Sora looked out of the turret glass and saw the five-headed dragon attacking the front of the ship. He heaved the twin lasers around and began to blast the black head. It turned towards him and unleashed a jet of a green substance. The turret disintegrated and Sora fell into the ruins below…

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Kairi was hitting the blue head when Sora fell. However, she did not see him, and so kept slamming laser bolts into the dragon's heads. Riku's voice came in on her headset. "Kairi! We need to get out of here! Cover us while I take the ship through the atmosphere! The dragon isn't a Heartless, so it'll die if it goes into space!"

"Alright!" she yelled and turned towards the rapidly shrinking dragon, firing everything she had at it as the Highwind blasted out of the world that was Disney Castle.

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Sora slowly opened his eyes. He was lying down in the ruins of the Disney Castle library. He stood up and looked around. The charred remains of Brooms and books littered the floor, and the tiles were scorched. Suddenly he saw a hand sticking out from under a rock. Sora ran over and pushed the rock away to find Queen Minnie. "Your highness? Talk to me, please. Talk to me!" Sora yelled, shaking the body.

"She was one of the least satisfying kills I've ever made." Sniffed a female voice from behind Sora.

Sora whipped his head around. "Who are you?" he asked summoning Oblivion.

The woman was dressed in a black Organization XIII cloak. "Relax; I'm not here to hurt you." She explained.

"You were here to hurt her!" He yelled, pointing at Minnie's body.

"No. I'm here for the same reason you're here. I need to talk to the king. She didn't tell me, so I was forced to leave her tied up here. Of course, that's when the Stormtroopers arrived. They shot her multiple times. I assumed that she was dead, so I dropped the rock on her. I was going to make a tombstone. Unfortunately, the falling rock killed her, so here I am with a load of guilt and a sincere apology." She said.

"You're a Nobody. You didn't care." Sora snapped.

"That's insulting! And I really don't like to be insulted!" she yelled and summoned up a long purple rapier. Sora swung at her, but she parried the attack and kicked him across the room. "You're a little rusty, Sora." She commented.

Sora jumped to his feet and charged her, but she once again parried his attack and knocked him in the back of the head with the rapier's hilt. Sora landed on the ground and the Keyblade vanished. The cloaked Nobody rested the point of her rapier on the back of Sora's neck. "So this is where it ends, huh?" he asked.

"No." she commented, "This is where it begins." Suddenly the pressure was off of Sora's neck. When he got up again, she was gone. He walked over to the body of Queen Minnie.

"I couldn't do it, your Highness. I just couldn't do it. What's wrong with me?" he asked the corpse.

"I don't think the corpse is the one to talk to, Sora." Queen Minnie said from behind the hero.

Sora whipped around and saw Minnie, Mickey, Donald and Goofy emerging from a trapdoor. "You guys, I'm so glad to see that you're safe! But then how'd…" he trailed off.

"That was a decoy, Sora! She was a member of the castle militia. We realized how much she looked like Minnie, so she became the royal decoy. She must have been very good to fool you!" Mickey said, and the four talking animals started to laugh.

Sora blushed, "I knew it wasn't her, I was just faking it because of that lady…"

"The one who stole all of your Keychains? She looked tough." Donald said.

"She did what?" Sora yelled, frantically trying to summon each of his Keyblades, but he could only bring forth the Kingdom Key. "Hey! How am I supposed to defeat anything without my Keychains? The Kingdom Key may be tough, but it's not enough to defeat the more powerful Heartless, and certainly not that dragon." Sora suddenly realized something. "Riku and Kairi! They were facing that thing! If they're not alright, I'll never forgive myself!" He ran out of the library, Kingdom Key in hand. Donald and Goofy followed him.

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Sora stared up at the sky. He saw the smoking trail where the Highwind had left the world, but no dragon. "They… left..." a tear rolled down Sora's face. He clenched his fists in rage. "How could they leave me? I'm their bloody best friend! They can't just run off whenever the hell they feel like it!" He collapsed onto his knees as Donald and Goofy caught up to him. There was a flash of white light and the two were thrown backwards and bound onto a large rock.

"Let us go!" Donald yelled.

"Funny, I don't really feel like it at the moment, you two." The Keyblade wielder from before walked out from behind a wall.

"I don't care who you are, but I'm going to kill you!" Sora yelled as he stood up and summoned his Keyblade.

"That's right, Sora! Give in to your anger! Become one with the darkness and destroy me!" the man yelled. He was in a black hooded cloak, but without the ornaments of an Organization garment.

"I will destroy you, buy not with darkness. I'll purge you with light!" Sora ran towards the other man. His Keyblade and clothing turned jet black. "What is this?" he yelled.

"This is what happens when you become one with the darkness! You gain power the likes of which you have only ever dreamed! Delve further into the darkness and eliminate me!"

"Sora, don't listen to him, he's a madman! He'll turn you into his tool!" Mickey yelled. Sora still continued his charge, and his hair turned black. Suddenly Mickey slammed into Sora with his Keyblade. Sora turned back to his original form and stopped charging.

"You stupid mouse, you've ruined everything! But I'll be back, you'll see!" the cloaked man yelled. And with that, he vanished.


	4. Chapter 3: Where's Sora?

Chapter 3: Where's Sora?

"Attention, this is the Highwind, requesting permission to dock." Riku said into the microphone.

"Riku, what's up with Sora? Why hasn't he come out yet?" Kairi asked Riku.

"Hell, I don't know. Go ask him yourself." He snapped back.

"Fine, I will!" Kairi squeaked. She marched over to the closed turret hatch and rapped on the top. There was no reply. "Sora? Sora, are you in there? Get out here, we're about to dock in Radiant Garden. Sora?"

"He's not about to get out of there, Kairi. I just got the results of the system check and- hang on… Yes, this is Riku. The Keyblade Bearer, yeah. No, I'm not joking… What are you talking about? I'm not already there. I just got back from Disney Castle… Disney Castle, yeah… whatever you say… I'm starting docking sequence now… thank you."

Kairi walked into the cockpit, "Well?"

"It would seem that Sora is gone." Riku replied.

"What do you mean, 'gone,'" Kairi asked, "He's just too lazy to get out, right?"

"Well, according to this, the whole turret's missing, and he's not there. He must still be at Disney Castle." Riku stated.

"Well then we have to go back!"

"With that dragon? We'd never find him! Our best chance for survival is to keep moving. We'll lay low at Merlin's for a while, get some supplies. We'll find him eventually. Besides, odds are the King's there with him, so he'll be fine. Just… don't worry about it," Riku stated, "See, we're here." He opened the cockpit door.

"You're under arrest!" a white-clad soldier said, marching into the ship.

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"So all I have to do is go and find a bunch of these Keyblade Wielders, kill them, then eat their brains?" the man asked the other creature.

"Yep, dat's right!" the other said. He was huge and muscular, but nothing more could be seen due to his massive cloak.

"I'll gain ultimate power from eating tiny, undeveloped brains? I'm in." the man said.

"All right! Da first thing you gotta do is find this one named Sora. The little brat will be the biggest obstacle to our dominance!" the other yelled.

"What do you mean, our?" the shorter man asked. With that he flicked the other's hood off with his telekinesis revealing Pete. The man sliced one finger quickly through the air and Pete collapsed to the ground in a bloody heap, his head rolling off into the shadows.

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Sora stared at his hands. "What… happened to me?" he asked Mickey.

"Well, ya sorta half-became a Heartless. It can happen when you stray to close to the dark, like when you try to kill someone in cold blood. It's one of the drawbacks to being a Keyblade Wielder." Mickey replied, rubbing one heel in the ashes.

"Half-become a Heartless… so wait! If that happens again, will I become a full heartless?" Sora asked, standing up.

"I really don't know, Sora. It's only happened to me once, and that was a long time ago…" Mickey trailed off.

"Your Majesty, how am I supposed to get out of here? I think it's unlikely anyone will be passing by anytime soon, so am I stuck here?" Sora asked.

"Of course not. We have a transmitter in the Library. That awful Organization woman was using it to talk to her superiors. Right this way, please." Minnie said, walking back towards the Library ruins. Sora and Mickey followed her.

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A.K looked towards the world below. "So this was Disney Castle, huh? Not much left."

"Yeah, but they was here a little while ago." One of his black-armored mercenaries said.

"Do you have to talk like that?" A.K asked.

"Talk like what, boss?" the man asked.

"Ugh, never mind. We just have to follow that Saffron chick. She's following the Keyblade Bearers, so this could get interesting very quickly." A.K said, and then turned around as a tiny red light started flashing on the dashboard. He flicked it on, and a holographic image of a black-armored man with a breathing mask appeared.

"Commander A.K, how goes your mission?" the man asked.

"Very well, Lord Vader. In fact, I'm pursuing Saffron now and…" he was cut off.

"Not your mission from the Grand Admiral, you fool. The mission from me." Vader snapped as quickly as his breathing mask would allow.

"That is also going well, sir," A.K replied, careful to hide all of his emotions, "I've broken four of the seals, but the last two continue to elude me."

"Indeed. This displeases me greatly. If you cannot locate and destroy these seals within the next three weeks, I will be forced to declare you an enemy of the Empire." With that Vader closed the line.

A.K collapsed into his seat and held his temples, "How the hell am I supposed to accomplish four months of work in three weeks? It just can't be done. It took me so long to find one of the buggers…"

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"Attention… all… ships." Sora typed into the beacon, "I… am… stranded… please… send… help… as… soon… as… possible… There… will… be… a… reward…."

"All done?" Mickey asked him.

"Yep. Send it away." Sora replied. A green stream of symbols zipped out of the end of the beacon and into space.

"And now we hope…" Sora muttered as the stream shot out of sight.

A/N: Alright, people, listen up! Please, please, _please_ review! Even if it's anonymous, just review. If you're a guest, review! If you're an author, review! As long as it isn't just a blatant flame, I WILL BE VERY HAPPY. Pretty please? Review, people! Ack!


	5. Chapter 4: A Third Side, A Third Story

Chapter 4: A Third Side, a Third Story

The man blinked his eyes and brushed at himself. He was growing extremely uncomfortable, and eventually opened his eyes to find that he was floating on a vast sea of flame. The red glow glinted off of his pitch-black armor, and he was utterly alone. He saw up and looked at his surroundings in closer detail.

He was in a small metal rowboat with no oars. The bottom of the boat was glowing bright red, and it appeared as though it would give way any minute. He felt cold and warm at the same time, which was very unusual. He looked down at himself. He was covered in black armor. "What the…" he muttered.

There was a lurching sound as the bottom of the boat gave way. He saw a helmet form around his head, and then all he saw was liquid flame. He was sinking, quickly by the feel of it. He tried to swim upwards, but his armor was too heavy. He just sank deep into the flames, growing warmer and warmer, until he passed out…

_Flashback_

_Three armored figures were standing at a crossroads. Large keys were clustered around them, but a few were in the middle. The armored figures, two male and one female, grasped a set of the keys in the middle of the clear path. "… And so it goes on." The larger male said._

_"You're so poetic." The female said sarcastically._

_"But it's true. We're-"_

_End flashback_

The boy woke up, gasping for breath, in a dark liquid-filled tube. He couldn't move his arms, his legs, or any other part of his body. A set of tubes pushed multicolored goop down and up his throat. He wanted to scream, but he found that he couldn't even accomplish that.

"Nice to see that you're finally with us," A voice said. "Can you talk yet?"

A muffled gurgle that was supposed to be "What do you think, jackass?" arose from the boy's throat.

"It's okay, recovering from this strength of magic can take time. Unfortunately, we don't have any. We need you to make a full recovery soon, Ven, or it'll be too late. The Chasers are here! Please wake up…"

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"Captain, we're picking up a distress signal!" a red-haired man yelled. He was piloting a ship in a Hawaiian-patterned shirt. Plastic model dinosaurs littered his piloting station, and he had to brush a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a few ferns off of the module to view the code. "Something about that kid who saved all of the worlds asking for help. Apparently, he's stranded. What should we do?"

"If the guy's who he says he is, we're doing good today, Wash." A brown-haired man in a trench coat replied. "Head towards the signal, we'll see what happens."

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Sora sighed as he lay back down on the grass. "No one's coming, huh?" he asked Mickey.

"Don't say that, Sora! You'll jinx us!" Goofy warned him.

"Awww, who believes in that anyway?" Donald asked.

"Donald!" Goofy gasped.

"Relax, both of you! Someone's bound to have…" Mickey trailed off as he fainted.

"Your majesty!" Donald yelled.

Mickey sat up slowly. "I'm fine Donald, but something terrible has happened."

"What is it, King Mickey?" Sora asked.

"The seals have been broken in the Field of the Lost. The Chasers are back, and what's worse, Xehanort's Shade has been released as well."

"His… Shade?" Sora asked, perplexed.

"When an amazingly powerful person succumbs to darkness, they form a Shade, an empty soul full of rage. It's only happened a few times, but the results have been devastating. Whole worlds can disappear from just being touched by a Shade. Xehanort's is the most famous. He attacked three former Chasers in the Field of the Lost, and the world was sealed in the last desperate act of one Chaser. Someone's destroyed all six seals… this is horrible…" Mickey trailed off again, now lost in thought.

Suddenly the transmitter started buzzing. "A message! Someone found us!" Sora exclaimed. He ran over to it and looked it over. "Some ship called the Serenity found us! Ha! Sora hugged Donald and Goofy, and then tried to hug the king, but Mickey was lost in thought.

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"Entering the atmosphere… wow this place is a dump." Wash told the captain. Suddenly, a piece of the ship flew off.

"Was that the primary buffer panel? Did the primary buffer panel just fall off my ship?" The captain asked.

"It did seem to resemble…" Wash was cut off as the ship rocked violently. "Looks like."

"I thought Kaylee said it was… ugh." The captain grabbed the microphone. "This is your captain speaking, we're going to experience some slight turbulence and… then… explode." He hung up the mic and ran into the back of the ship.

"We blowin' up again?" a dark-skinned woman asked.

"I don't know, ask your husband!" The captain yelled as the ship shook again.

"Explode? I don't wanna explode!" A large man bristling with weapons stated.

"Jayne, how many weapons you planning to bring? You've only got the two hands." Mal asked him.

"Well, I figured I'll keep my options open." Jayne replied.

"We're just picking up passengers…" The captain muttered, "Fine, but no grenades." He moved on and found an oil-sleeked girl in the back of the ship. "Kaylee, what in the Splinter Hell are you…"

"Everything's shiny, Captain, not to fret." She replied, turning towards the large yellow engine.

"You said the buffer panel would last for another three weeks." The captain said.

"That was three months ago, captain." She stated over her shoulder.

"My ship don't crash! If she crashes, you crashed her!" the captain yelled over another violent shake of the ship.

A/N: Hey everyone! You're still not reviewing, and I'm perplexed as to why.

Explanations for various things:

I'm really sorry about how jumpy the story is. I want to start most of the subplots early on so that this fanfic more closely resembles an actual Kingdom Hearts game.

The 112233112233 is there for a reason. If this was the actual game, that would flash quickly during each scene transition.

Recurring Elements: These are returning from my last story

Morgan and Riz

The Joiner (possibly)

Most of Organization XV

Most everything else is all-new.


	6. Chapter 5: Complications

Chapter 5: Imprisoned

Riku and Kairi stared at the white-armored trooper for only a second, then whipped out their Keyblades and stabbed him. His companions started firing into the cockpit of the Highwind, and Riku and Kairi took cover on either side of the door. Eventually, the shots ceased, and the soldiers began to move into the ship. They searched, but Riku and Kairi were nowhere to be found.

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Leon groaned, "How much longer do these Empire freaks have military control? We need to get back on schedule with the new MET, or the structure could collapse."

"Well, I reckon, if we really need to, we could fight our way outta here." Cid said, chewing on one of his toothpicks.

"Cid, the last thing we need right now is going to jail. Of course, as the Great Ninja Yuffie, I could always just destroy them with my shuriken, and we could wade through the carnage."

"Ahh! Such violence! We must cheer up, or all is lost!" Merlin stated, waving his hands around.

"He's right. We need to be a little more cheerful." Aerith monotoned.

"This would be so much easier if there weren't all those Stormtroopers out there." Leon groaned again.

"Is that what they're called? I thought they were just soldiers with no fashion sense." Yuffie said.

Suddenly they heard laser shots being fired outside. Everyone rushed to the window to look. Two people dressed in Stormtrooper armor were bashing the guards with Keyblade strokes to the head. The aggressors were about to finish off the last trooper when the alarm began to blare. Dozens of troopers rushed in, and Leon, Yuffie, Cid and Aerith ran out to help whoever these people were. Shots were fired on both sides, and slowly the Stormtroopers were beaten back. Near the end of the battle, Leon was shot in the leg, then in the right shoulder. Aerith ran over to heal him as Yuffie destroyed the last opponent.

Aerith helped Leon stand up, and Riku and Kairi took their Stormtrooper masks off. "You're… Kairi and Riku, right?" Leon asked them.

"Guilty as charged." Kairi replied.

"Please… we have to get to… the MET station… construction site… or the foundation will…" Leon struggled to say as He slowly stood up, supported by Aerith. He took a step forward on his own and collapsed to the floor again.

"Leon! Be careful! Muscle damage takes time to heal, even with a Curaga spell." Aerith warned him, helping him stand up once more.

"Please… get me to the MET station… or it could… collapse…" Leon pleaded quietly.

"I'll carry Leon." Someone said, walking out from an alleyway. His clothes were tattered, and his hair was shorter, but it was Cloud. However, he now had two wings.

Leon looked up, "Cloud? You know where the MET is, right?"

"No, but I'll follow your directions." Cloud said.

"Hey, you can't get out of this one without us!" Riku said.

"Yeah, we're far from worthless, you know." Yuffie yelled.

Leon smirked, "Fine, clear a path for us on the ground. We'll provide air support if necessary."

"We can handle it!" Kairi said, shrugging off her uncomfortable armor to reveal her usual outfit. The group ran forward, Cloud lifting off into the sky while the rest readied their weapons. This was going to be a long and grueling fight.

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The Serenity landed quietly among the ruins if Disney Castle. Sora, Donald, Mickey and Goofy were waiting. All but Mickey were cheering the arriving ship. Mickey just frowned, still worrying about Xehanort. The front of the Serenity opened and a man in a brown trenchcoat walked out. He was accompanied by a man with several nasty-looking pieces of weaponry adorning his jacket. He was holding a large machine gun that appeared to still fire bullets.

"Hello, my name is Malcolm Reynolds, and this is the Serenity, one of the fastest ships in the Universe. What are your names?" the man in the trenchcoat asked.

"I'm Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy. We need to get out of here so we can move on with saving the worlds." Sora said, walking up to him.

"Will the mouse be coming along as well?" Malcolm asked.

"Will you, King Mickey?" Sora asked.

"No, I have things to take care of now that Xehanort's back, but I'll pay for all your purchases." He handed Sora a gold card with the King's seal on it. "Be sure not to lose it, okay?"

Sora saluted, "Yes, sir!" he turned to Malcolm, "How much to get to Radiant Garden?"

"Well, the standard fee is 4,000 munny per head, but with the Imperial occupation, it's going to cost you 6,000 extra, so 18,000 munny." Sora grimaced as the captain rattled out the final fee.

"Sure." Sora handed the card to the Captain and ran onto the ship. Malcolm smiled and nodded to the King before heading back up the ramp.

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"There, that's the last one!" Kairi yelled as she killed the last Stormtrooper. Cloud carried Leon into the upper levels of the MET building. Riku unlocked the construction gate and the ground force ran inside.

The station was magnificent. The interior work would be fantastic once it was finished, but for now there was no paint, and some walls had only been framed. Tunnels led out to the various transporters, and a set of stairs in the corner led up to the second level. Kairi, Yuffie and Merlin ran up them while Aerith and Tifa, who had caught up to the group on the way to the station, kept watch for Imperial troops.

Cloud and Leon were on the second floor, examining the walls and floors. "No real damage. The structure seems fine up here…" Leon said. Suddenly the floor gave way underneath him and he fell to the lower floor. Aerith ran over to him and gave everyone else a thumbs-up.

"Wow, he's a nice beatstick for you guys, huh? I mean, he survives being shot and falling, like what… fifty feet? Dude, my job just got really hard." Someone in a black Organization cloak stated from the corner.

"Xigbar?" Riku asked, whipping around to face the newcomer.

The Nobody took off his hood to reveal Xigbar's face. His grey-streaked hair was no longer in a ponytail, but it hung loose around his shoulders. He had a fresh new scar on his face and his eyepatch was missing, revealing an eye socket sealed by skin.

"B-but… Sora killed you, didn't he?" Kairi stammered, summoning her Keyblade.

Xigbar grinned wolfishly, "How can you kill what doesn't really exist? Later, dudes!" Xigbar left through a dark portal in the usual Organization manner. However, this time it didn't close.

"I'm getting to the bottom of this right now!" Riku yelled, and ran into the portal. It shut behind him before Kairi could stop his rash move. Kairi dropped to the floor and held her face in her hands.

"Hmm… guys do these kinds of things all the time, Kairi. Don't worry about it. Riku's probably kicking that old guy's butt to the Pride Lands by now." Yuffie said.

Kairi sighed and stood up. "You're right. There's no point in moping. I'll just have to find both of those bastards and rally us together!"

"Yeah! Girl power!" Yuffie yelled, striking a pose behind Kairi.

"Yuffie, do you want to… travel together? I mean, Sora has Donald and Goofy, and they're so tight-knit… and I no longer have any friends who are girls, so…" Kairi asked.

"The Great Ninja Yuffie… accepts." Yuffie grabbed Kairi's arm. "We leave at once!" she yelled, dragging Kairi out of the MET station.

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Sora, Donald and Goofy sat in the kitchen aboard Serenity. "As passengers, you have access to your rooms and this room only. You must be accompanied by one of us in order to visit any other area of the ship, understood?" Captain Mal asked.

"Yes, sir!" Sora, Donald and Goofy said in unison, standing and saluting.

Mal sighed, "Very good then. As you were." The crew dispersed, with only Jayne and Kaylee remaining in the room. Jayne was downing shots of alcohol in the corner while Kaylee sat and braided her hair.

Sora yawned, "I'm pushed. G'night, you guys." He said, heading for the passenger room.

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Sora laid himself on the slab of a bed and stared at the ceiling, "Another adventure…" he sighed, "I'll need my rest, then." He drifted off to sleep.

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Sora was standing in the middle of a white room. Members of Organization XIII surrounded him on their large seats, but a small group seemed to have no seat. Sora summoned his Keyblade, "You guys… are dead… I killed you…"

"That does bring back unpleasant memories." Xemnas said, "But no matter. We need your help, Sora."

"I'm not helping you… things. You're emotionless killers; I learned that last time I killed all of you." Sora said.

"Indeed we are, but you can change all that." Xemnas stated.

"What?"

"It's simple, Sora. We want our hearts back; you can get them for us. Our… hostile feelings could go away… eventually. All we need is our hearts. We'll be in your debt forever. As you know, it's always nice to have someone in your debt, hmm?" Xemnas asked.

"… fine, but there's one thing I want to know first. How are you still alive?" Sora asked.

"Alive? We don't exist. As such, how can you kill us? You can only… delay us for a little while." Xemnas replied.

Sora woke up.

A/N: Fun, huh? I really had fun writing this thing. You know what, if no one but ri2 wants to review, that's fine. I don't really care anymore. I'm writing, whether people care or not.

I'd still like reviews, though.


	7. Chapter 6: New Journeys

Chapter 6: New Journeys

Kairi and Yuffie looked through the Gummi dealership. There were plenty of nice ships, but the two girls just didn't have the munny. "This sucks! How are we supposed to find those jerks without a ship?" Yuffie yelled.

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help overhearing that you need a ship?" a man whispered coolly to the two girls. He was dressed in a dark brown leather jacket with a green camouflage T-shirt underneath. He had tattered jeans and dusty, worn boots. Two pistols hung at his sides, and a sword was strapped to his back. An unidentifiable mass of leather hung on his head over his short, straw-colored hair.

"Yeah, but getting a ride from a guy could be hazardous to our health, perv." Yuffie said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"I understand if you're hesitant, but I already have a girlfriend, so you guys, er, girls, don't have to worry, savvy?" he explained.

"Two things: One, you could by lying, two, you could be a guys who likes taking advantage of multiple girls, and three, what does 'savvy' mean?" Kairi asked.

"Picked it up on my travels. Look, I pilot a ship, kay? There're other people on it, so you don't have to worry. It's really cheap, and you'll rarely even see me. You in?" he asked. By now, everyone in the crowd was looking at the argument.

"Who are you?" Yuffie asked.

"Morgan Richards, pilot of the Hawk's Eye, fastest and cheapest ship you'll find here. Only 10 munny per lightsecond, basic food, drink and showers supplied onboard. You will not find a cheaper deal than that, I guarantee it." He announced proudly.

"Way to read from the placard, Morg." A woman stated, applauding unenthusiastically nearby. She was dressed in a skintight black padded jumpsuit with plates of armor guarding her chest, arms and legs. There were several white streaks in her long black hair, and her luminous green eyes had no pupils.

"That's Riz, our resident emo." Morgan whispered. Riz glared at him, "I mean gunner! Yeesh." He exclaimed, holding his hands up and walking away.

"Sorry about that. He means, well, but he doesn't really know how to handle himself socially anymore. Not since… the incident." Riz explained, and then shook herself slightly.

"What happened?" Kairi asked, now alert.

"It'd be better if you heard it from him. Now, on to business. Do you wish to fly with us? If so, where are you going?" Riz asked.

"… Disney Castle. We need to get to Disney Castle." Kairi said. Yuffie stared incredulously at her.

"120 munny, then." Riz stated. Kairi handed over the munny. "This way, please." The woman continued, leading the two girls out of the dealership.

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A.K dutifully followed Saffron through Radiant Garden as she tailed the Keybladers.

"There, that's the last one!" he heard the female yell. A.K snorted. These Stormtroopers were way too easy to kill. The Thrill of the Chase was running through him now. It was time to strike, no matter what the bloody Admiral had said.

Suddenly Saffron had a knife to his neck, "Who are you and what do you want?" She hissed.

A.K smiled, "I'm after what you're after. Those kids in there. Why don't we follow the logical course of action and work together to kill them?" he asked the woman, a glint in his eyes.

"You've been following me since I started this job. Why?" she asked.

"I was told to." He explained simply.

"By whom, pray tell?" She asked, digging the knife in a little deeper. A faint line of blood trickled down A.K's neck.

"Grand Admiral Thrawn, of course. He wanted to make sure you didn't do anything stupid, so he sent me after you." He stated, not at all intimidated by the dagger pressed into his throat, "Unfortunately, this is stupid." He shot a bullet straight into Saffron's chest. She crumpled over, and the dagger went through A.K's neck. He Sighed and pulled it out, "On with the Chase, then."

"Hello, A.K. It's been a long time, dude." Someone said from behind him.

"Braig! My, this day keeps getting more and more annoying!" he hissed, spinning around and slashing Xigbar with Saffron's dagger. It slashed the Nobody's face and undid his ponytail. Xigbar held on hand up to his face, "Not cool, man!" he stated, and disappeared into darkness.

A.K waited a little while, then saw the female Keyblader emerge from the building with some other girl. A.K threw a tracking signal onto each of them, and then walked into the nearest alleyway.

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Ven moved his legs.

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Riku looked around himself. He was in the World that Never Was. The Castle that Never Was stood in front of him. Strangely, the Castle was now painted black and green, and Heartless were swarming it. Xigbar was heading down a manhole, so Riku headed towards it. He heard voices down below.

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"Let's kill the hag and her Heartless and be done with it!" Axel yelled from below. The rest of the Re-Organization murmured to themselves.

"Axel, I somehow doubt that that's the best plan." Zexion stated wisely, "Fighting shout be our last resort. I say we concentrate on Sora. The Castle is not nearly as important."

"Zexion: The Cloaked Wuss was spoken!" Axel yelled, throwing his hands up into the air.

Xemnas spoke, "If you two are finished, I can tell you the plan. Sora is a priority…" Zexion smirked, "But we shall need our castle to further our other plans. I agree with Axel." Axel grinned and stuck his tongue out at Zexion.

"Take that, Zexy!" He yelled. Zexion just frowned and regained his usual attentive posture.

"Now, there exists a labyrinth of sorts under the Castle. I know how to get through, but Maleficent does not. Thusly, we will sneak straight into the Proof of Existence and make her suffer." The members cheered this plan and stood up. Xemnas opened a section of the wall to reveal a shining white corridor with pathways branching off of it. "I give you… The Labyrinth that Was!"

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Kairi and Yuffie were led into a large freighter ship. It had been heavily modified, and weapons were poking out of mismatched holes in the walls. The inside had obviously once been magnificent, but was in varying states of disrepair, depending on the importance of the area. What seemed like ordinary trash littered the floor. Beer cans, used tissues and glass bottles were the most common, but Kairi thought she saw a pair of boots mixed in with a pile of rusty scrap metal.

A group of men in lab coats emerged from a door, smoke rushing out from behind them. One saw Yuffie and Kairi, "'Sup, girls? I'm Braig, this is Elaeus, Even, Ienzo and Dilan. Who are you?" the spitting image of Xigbar asked innocently.

A/N: Bizarre, huh? More Sora next chapter, and… that's it!


	8. Chapter 7: Near Miss

Chapter 7: Near Miss

Sora woke up. He looked around his cabin. "Hey, Sora!" a blond-haired boy said cheerfully.

"Demyx?" Sora asked, still groggy.

"In the flesh! Well, sort of…" Demyx trailed off.

Sora snapped up and summoned his Keyblade, pointing it at the Nobody's throat. "What are you doing here?" He snarled.

"Hey, you're going out and getting hearts for us, so I'm your first mission. I really won't bother you too much, I just… yeah…" Demyx trailed off again.

_Trust him, Sora. Demyx doesn't lie… technically speaking, he can't. No Nobody can. They can just… tell most of the truth or not say anything. This isn't a half-truth._ Roxas stated from inside Sora's mind.

_Great time to pop up again, Roxas. It just wouldn't be a lousy, dingy party without you._ Sora shot back.

"Hello, worlds to Keyblade Wielder come in Keyblade Wielder!" Demyx shouted, waving his hand in front of Sora's face.

"Sorry, I just…" Sora trailed off this time.

"Look, I understand if you don't trust me… I just… right now I really trust you to do me a favor… love your enemies, right?" Demyx explained, looking at the metal floor.

"Fine, but no water or Dancers." Sora stated, caving in to the musician, "And no rap music." He added.

Demyx winked, "Gotcha." He sat in the corner and struck a few notes on his sitar.

_The color of infinity_

_Inside an empty glass_

_I'm squinting my eye_

_And turning off_

_And on, And on_

_And off the light_

_It's for this experimental film_

_Which nobody knows about but me_

_And I'm thinking about which face improves_

"Hey, Sora!" Donald said, walking into the room. The sliding door hit Demyx in the face.

"Ow! Owowowowowowowowowowowowowowow! Ouch! Watch it, jerk!" a slight stream of darkness was trickling out of Demyx's nose.

"What're you doing here?" Donald yelled, pulling out his staff.

"It's okay, you guys! He's not here to hurt us!" Sora explained, pushing Donald's staff down.

"Sora, you believe him?" Donald asked incredulously.

"No, but he'll be a good prisoner if we run into anything from Organization XIII." Sora explained. Demyx gulped and wiped the darkness away with his sleeve.

"Sora, we killed them all." Donald explained slowly.

Sora sighed, "Yes, but they're back. How does that work again?" He asked the cloaked man.

Demyx shrugged, "Don't ask me, No one likes telling me anything anymore. I'm just too immature."

"You know that you're immature, and you don't try to mature? Isn't that a little… dumb?" Goofy asked, scratching his head.

Demyx sighed, "Are you me?"

"No, but…" Goofy started, but Demyx interrupted him.

"Then don't tell me what to do, you stupid dog-thing." Demyx quietly fumed, turning his back from the three very confused heroes.

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The Shadow stood up. He'd been trapped in that big factory for too long, and now he was hungry. He ran out through a hole in the wall, searching for hearts to devour.

Red lights were flashing around a city in the distance. A city meant people, and people meant hearts. He hurriedly scuttled along.

Before long he saw several white beings. They turned strange sticks on him and fired red lightning. The bolts flew through the Shadow. It turned its eyes on them and leapt, tearing hearts out soundlessly. Well, the beings screamed, but the Shadow couldn't hear them, and didn't care if they suffered. More Shadows appeared, and they walked out to find more people. Suddenly a fireball wiped out the other Heartless. The Shadow looked around, but soon it found itself caught in a glass jar. "Perfect!" the human said, and walked towards a building nearby.

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Kairi smiled and shook the hands of each scientist. "Very nice to meet you." She said politely to each, and followed Riz and Yuffie further into the ship.

Dilan grinned, "Didn't suspect a thing. This will be fun, won't it?"

"Indeed." Ienzo stated, turning around.

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"These are the escape pods. They are to be used only in an actual emergency. Otherwise you are not allowed near them." Riz explained.

"Did you feel like you knew those guys?" Yuffie asked Kairi.

"Yeah. Weird, huh?" Kairi replied.

"They're coming for me!" a man in a tie-dye shirt, tight blue jeans and glasses yelled. Suddenly he tripped down a flight of metal stairs. He hit the bottom with a sickening thud. A little while later he stood up. "They're still coming for me!" he ran towards the door. "Oh, hey, Riz!" He yelled as he passed the group.

Five masses of a pale blue substance moved into the room. They were small, but recognizably humanoid. "Where'd he go?" they all asked. Yuffie pointed towards the door where the man had run through. The five nodded and ran for the door

"Who were they?" Kairi asked.

"Tie-dye guy was Jonathan Slent, and the blobs were Morphun." Riz explained. "Now let me show you to your cabins…"

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"Coming into Radiant Garden!" Mal yelled.

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"Leaving Radiant Garden!" Morgan yelled.

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Midway through the atmosphere of Radiant Garden, two ships nearly crashed into each other.

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"Jerk!" Wash yelled, piloting towards the world.

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"What an idiot!" Morgan yelled, piloting into space, and eventually Disney Castle.

A/N: Fun, huh? Sorry it was so short, but it was basically a gag chapter with some story points stuck in for good measure. Next time you'll get a gander at the villains, and Sora finds Demyx's heart… but, as always, complications arise, and might just be dealt with in…

Chapter 8: Heart 1- DemyxHHHHejhfbefgbtububH


	9. Chapter 8: Battle of the Bands?

Chapter 8: Battle of the Bands

"Alright, we have landed in Radiant Garden, and you can be on your merry!" Mal said as Sora, Donald, Goofy and Demyx left the Serenity. Mal rubbed his eyes, "Were there that many when they got on?" He asked Jayne.

"How the hell should I know? That ain't my job, Mal." Jayne snarled.

"I wasn't sayin' it was." Mal replied. The two degenerated into fighting as Sora and the others left.

As they walked down the street, Wash caught up to them. "Sora, here's your card and a beacon. If you ever need our help, press the blue button. We'll be in town a few day's more, so not a problem, huh?" he gasped and ran back towards the docks.

"Thank… you?" Sora asked the air.

"C'mon, my heart's close! I can feel it!" Demyx yelled to Sora, who followed miserably.

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"Sora is progressing quite nicely. But, even with the Organization, he has no chance of stopping us. We have KINGDOM HEARTS!!" Maleficent yelled, dispelling a vision of Sora. She was in a room full of strange creatures from near and far, deep within her new invulnerable fortress.

"What's so special 'bout Kingdom Hearts, anyway? Ha-cha-cha!" A mouse who looked strangely like the King said.

"Mortimer, you fail to understand. Kingdom Hearts is ultimate power!" Maleficent yelled.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Get on to the part where we squash the brat!" Hades yelled, his flames turning red as he ended the sentence.

"We don't. We'll let the Chasers handle that. What we have to worry about is conquering the worlds. I will give each of you part of Kingdom Hearts. This will allow you to summon Heartless when you wish." Maleficent answered.

Captain Hook grinned, "I'll squash Pan like a bug with this kind of power!"

"Normally I would not be inferior to anyone, but I shall make an exception." A green-tentacle pirate said, snapping a crablike claw.

"I'll have Treasure Planet in no time!" A fat cyborg exclaimed joyfully.

"I find your plan illogical, but so be it." The words of the MCP flashed over a terminal.

"Fuzzy bunnies beware, Negaduck is here!" An anthropomorphic duck in a yellow outwit exclaimed, brandishing a cartoony bazooka with a Heartless symbol on the front.

"Again, who are you?" A blond man in a white suit asked.

"I told you, Howe. I'm Maleficent! Ruler of all the worlds!" the witch yelled, green smoke rising from around her.

"That was a little overdramatic, don't you think?" asked an old man in red metal armor.

"Silence!" Maleficent hissed. "Where are Pete and Sylar? I told them to be here… ah well. They simply won't rule the worlds."

"Sorry I'm late! I had a little detour to make along the way!" The man in the fur coat said.

"Sylar. Just in time." Maleficent stated, disappointed.

"That's what matters, right?" he said, putting his legs up on the table.

"I will relay this at once." A whale-like creature stated, walking out of the room.

"Very well. Meeting adjourned." Maleficent announced.

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"A concert hall?" Sora asked incredulously.

"Yup. I know it's in there. I can almost taste it." Demyx replied.

"I'm sure your heart's in every concert hall, but is your _heart _in this one?" Goofy asked.

"I really am sure, you guys." Demyx said before walking in.

Sora sighed, "Off we go, then."

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Inside, the hall was a mess. I was still in operation, but the seats were old and posters covered the walls. Sora saw that some of the posters dated back over fifteen years.

Demyx sniffed, "It's beautiful. Look, my heart!" he pointed to a huge gold trophy. A small Shadow Heartless was crawling around inside the cup, scratching at the sides.

"Yep, she's a beaut. Caught her fresh this mornin'. All you gotta do to get her is win the Battle of the Bands tomorrow." An old man said from beside the heroes, "Not that I'm hinting at any of you enterin', of course, but… you never know what some people will go for." The man disappeared with a wink.

"Of course. It's needlessly complicated, probably crucial to the plot at the very end, and an old man said to enter. Judging from what I've gone through in my life, you have no choice but to enter." A middle-aged man in a blue jumpsuit said. He was mopping the floor, but he didn't seem to make a difference on the piles of gum and broken glass.

"Well, looks like we're putting together a band." Sora stated.

A/N: Another short chapter… think of this and the last chapter as one bigger chapter… in two parts. The Battle starts next time, so stick around!


	10. Chapter 9: The Battles Begin

Chapter 9: The Battles Begin!

Demyx grinned as the group left the Concert Hall, "This is perfect!" he yelled, "I'll get to play sitar and everything! I'm so gonna win!" He pumped his fist in the air and summoned up his sitar in the intricate way he had used before he fought Sora, surrounding himself with water, and then lowering his instrument with a flourish.

"Yeah, but there's a minimum of four singers or instrument players required. It says so on the poster." Donald pointed out, looking at an ad.

Demyx wasn't deterred. "Not a problem! I'll sing with Sora, and you guys can play… hmmm… Duck-man, you play drums, and Dog-dude, you play bass."

"But I can't play any instrument." Goofy said, scratching his head.

"It's okay, no one listens to bass players anyway!" Demyx yelled. He saw an instrument shop across the street. "Perfect! Be right back." He yelled, running over to the shop.

"What should we do?" Donald asked.

"Nothing. The guy's in his element. Let him have fun." Sora replied, putting his arms behind his head and smiling, "Besides, I haven't been singing since Atlantica, so… this should be interesting."

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Xemnas lead the rest of the Organization through the Labyrinth. "Xemnas! How does this thing lead to the Castle if the Castle floats?" a young cloaked female Nobody asked.

"There's a teleporter in the middle. It takes you to the Proof of Existence room in the Castle. Turn left here." Xemnas said, and then continued to lead.

Eventually they stumbled upon a battalion of Soldiers, "Quick, kill them!" Axel yelled, summoning his chakrams.

"Hold!" Xemnas yelled. "Heartless, obey me!" the Soldiers ran behind the Nobody leader and the group continued.

Eventually they reached the center. A bright blue glass cylinder stood dead center. Power cables pulsed with light as they powered it. The entire Organization, plus a few of the Soldiers, fit in comfortably. The group disappeared as they were teleported upwards…

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The group emerged in the Proof of Existence. The door stood in front of them.

"Let's get our castle back!" Axel yelled.

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Kairi stared at the now-familiar ruins of Disney Castle. She heard Yuffie give a small gasp. "Now entering Disney Castle. You sure you guys want to stay here? It's a little… run-down…" Morgan stated over the intercom. Kairi pressed the response button.

"We just need to grab some cash and a friend, then we'll be on out way back here." She replied.

"Whatd'you mean?" Morgan asked.

"We need your ship to keep traveling with us. We'll be able to pay, if that's what you're concerned about." Kairi answered truthfully.

"I'll have to talk with the rest of the crew. In the meantime, get to the loading bay." Morgan replied after a brief pause.

"Will do!" Yuffie yelled.

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"You girls take care now, savvy?" Morgan said as Kairi and Yuffie walked down the ramp.

"You too, Morgan." Kairi replied, waving at him from the base of the ramp. She and Yuffie walked away.

"She's only going to be gone a few hours." Riz intoned. She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms.

"So? This place is dangerous. Morphun, follow them." A larger version of the four gelatinous figures from before slunk down the ramp and away into the ruins.

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Kairi and Yuffie looked for Sora all over the ruins. Sadly, they could not locate him. They walked into the Library, defeated.

King Mickey stood up, "Kairi? Yuffie? What're you two doin' here?" he asked, shocked.

"We're here to find Sora, Your Majesty." Yuffie said.

"Sora left for Hollow Bastion a little while ago to find you and Riku." Mickey said. He slammed his head on the table and sighed, "Life isn't working out for anyone right now, is it?"

Kairi looked at the small king, "Mickey, er… Your Majesty… could you… find Sora?" Kairi asked.

"Sorry, Kairi, but I can't. You'll have to find him on your own." Suddenly Mickey snapped his fingers, "I've got it! I'll come with you! You'll never find better protection, and I can find the seals! Perfect!"

"We'd be glad to have you with us! By the way, do you have a ship?" Yuffie asked.

"Nope!" Mickey announced, smiling,

Kairi sweatdropped, "Then how are you supposed to come with us?" she asked.

"We'll leave in the ship that brought you here." Mickey concluded.

"Okay. Then let's go!"

"There's only one problem." The King added, stroking his chin.

"What?" Kairi asked.

"A virus was inserted into my personal computer. It lets ships in… But not out. If we want to find Sora and the Seals, we'll need to get rid of that first."

"How? Can't we just put in an antivirus program or something? There really isn't much we can do." Kairi asked.

"Here, let me show you." Mickey said. He pushed a bookcase out of the wall to reveal a large computer terminal. The screen was flashing red. Mickey pointed to a glass lens above the computer, "This will take you inside the computer. I had it copied from an identical machine in Radiant Garden." Mickey explained.

"So… we're going to get sucked inside a computer?" Kairi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Unfortunately, it can only take two people. Please hurry." With that, Mickey punched in a stream of commands, and Kairi and Yuffie were sucked into the computer.

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Ven burst out of the metal tube. He was inside a stone room. A woman in black armor similar to what he was wearing was holding the door. The name Aqua flitted into his head.

"You're up!" She exclaimed. The slight distraction was all the force acting on the other side of the door needed to break in. Ven and Aqua summoned up their Keyblades as dark-armored figures ran in, surrounding them. One muscled his way to the front. His helmet retracted to reveal a man with grey eyes and bright orange hair. He grinned, revealing pointed teeth.

"Hello again, you two." He said in a guttural, rasping voice.

"Shut it, Pyre." Aqua yelled, brandishing her blades.

"Who are you people?" Ven wondered.

"You don't know? Wow, Xehanort really did a number on you. You lost your memory, huh? Well, in that case, I'll tell you the truth." Pyre said. He pointed towards Aqua, "She's the enemy. You were kidnapped. We're here to free you."

Ven looked at him blankly. "Don't listen to him, Ven!" Aqua yelled, "He's with the Chasers!"

"And so are you, Ven. She betrayed us! We're the good guys!" Pyre pleaded.

"Leave me alone. All of you. I will not take a side in this until I have proof." Ven stated.

"Classic Ven." Pyre said, laughing. "But you made the wrong choice." With that, Pyre grabbed Aqua by the wrist and the armored figures disappeared in a flash of light.

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"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Battle of the Bands here at Roc's House of Rock! Our competitors tonight are…" The announcer trailed off as spotlights lit up each band, "The Oppressors!" he announced.

The Oppressors were a group of punk rockers. They were covered in piercings and hair dye. "Not a problem." Demyx muttered.

"Next, the Velvet Pincusions!"

"The Velvet Pincushions were simply a female version of The Oppressors. "A perfect match." Demyx muttered.

"Next is the Goff Duo!"

What looked like childish versions of Goofy and Pete stood on the stage.

Goofy's eyes boggled, "Max? P.J?" he exclaimed.

The two looked over, "Dad?" The miniature Goofy asked.

"And finally we have the Organization of Rock!"

The spotlight fell on Sora, Donald, Goofy and Demyx. "Here we go…" Muttered Sora.

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A man in black armor with a breathing mask on stared at Radiant Garden from his command ship. Raspy breathing sounds left a grating on his mask. A small metal cylinder hung at his hip.

"Lord Vader, what shall we have the fleet do?" A man in a green outfit asked.

"Ready my shuttle. I wish to punish the remaining troopers myself. After I return, we shall continue our search for this so-called Rebel Alliance. Is that clear, Admiral?" Vader asked, turning towards the nervous-looking man.

"Yes, Lord." The man replied, hanging his head and marching off to give the orders.

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Riku blasted the Dusks with Dark energy, and then kept moving towards where the Organization had left. He blasted a group of Soldiers apart, and then ran towards the teleporter in the middle of the room.

A/N: Plot twists galore! Thank you, Shire Folk, for reviewing. (Hands Shire Folk a cookie) And you too, ri2 (Hands Ri2 a cookie) anyone else want one?

Next chapter will focus on Kairi and Yuffie, but I might stick in the fist round of the Battle of the Bands. Sorry it's taking so long to update, but I get out of school on Wednesday, so I should be fine then.

See you later, and may your swords stay sharp!


	11. Chapter 10: The Castle Network

Chapter 10: The Castle Network

Kairi and Yuffie appeared in a small blue room. Their clothing had blue lines running through it, as did the clothes of the other people inside of the room. There were over fifty of them, packed tightly inside.

"Who are you?" one female asked.

"I'm Kairi and this is Yuffie. We're here about a virus." Yuffie explained before Kairi could quiet her.

The door burst open and a golden orb floated in. "Commencing de-resolution." It beeped. Yuffie and Kairi were thrown against the wall, writhing in pain.

"Debug!" Someone yelled from behind the orb. The golden sphere hissed and imploded. The remains were captured in what looked like a glass vial. Kairi and Yuffie looked at their savior. He was dressed in green-lined armor, and a mask obscured his face. A small red sphere floated next to him. The male program passed the vial to the orb, and the sphere grew slightly.

"Who are you?" asked Yuffie.

"There'll be time for that later. Come, more viruses approach." The program said. The programs inside the room ran out, making a break for freedom.

Kairi and Yuffie followed the male program that had saved them. Halfway down the hallway, three more of the golden orbs approached. The program motioned for the two to stop.

"Warning: De-resolution commencing." The three buzzed. Kairi and Yuffie braced themselves, but nothing happened. They looked up and saw the program blocking the passage.

"Go. Both of you. Don't come back." The program told them.

"No way!" Yuffie yelled, drawing her shuriken, "We're going to fight! Right, Kairi?"

Kairi sighed and summoned her Keyblade, "I guess…"

Kairi could have sworn she saw the program smirk. "If you say so… DEBUG!" he yelled. The orbs writhed, but none imploded as the one had before. Yuffie threw her shuriken and it defeated all three, curving through them. They vanished into blue pixels, and then disappeared.

"Three points for Yuffie!" She yelled, pumping her fist up in the air.

"We need to move quickly. There are more on their way." The program said, "I'll tell you everything once we're behind the firewall. Go!" suddenly, dozens more of the spheres appeared. These had what appeared to be suction cups on their sides. They latched onto the walls and floor of the tunnel and started sucking green streams of numbers. "Oh no… get past them! Go!" the program hissed quickly. Kairi and Yuffie complied, running past the blobs. The program followed them. "Debug!" He yelled. The blobs detached themselves from the walls and withered. Once they had shrunk to a sufficiently small size, they fell into glass vials and contributed to the red orb's growth.

"I didn't think they'd get this far so quickly…" the program muttered, "Quickly, behind the firewall." He pointed to a blue energy shield with several blobs and orbs attached to it. "Charging…" the program waited a few seconds before shouting "DEBUG 2!"

A massive shockwave enveloped the viruses, knocking them back and shrinking them down to size. "What just happened?" Kairi asked, rubbing her eyes

"Hurry!" the program yelled, pointing towards the shield. He, Kairi and Yuffie ran behind it.

The shield rippled as they passed through it. "Now that we're safe, what do you want to know?" the program asked.

"Who are you? What were those things and how do we stop them?" Kairi asked.

"I am Norton V.3, an antivirus program designed on a partnership between ENCOM and the Hanso Foundation." The program started, "I was designed to be the perfect virus hunter. I met my match when I was installed here. Those orbs and blobs outside were part of the FINAL virus, a type of virus I'd never heard of before. I used the terminal in this room to ask my creator for assistance, but the FINAL hive mind intercepted the message. Now it knows I'm here." Norbert concluded.

"That's nice, Norton, but how do we stop them?" Yuffie asked impatiently, tapping her foot on the floor.

"I honestly have no idea. My debug can stop small groups for a time, but I usually don't have time to charge it like I did back there. I need a new form of combat against the viruses, or the system is as good as gone." He explained.

"You have us!" Yuffie exclaimed, grabbing Kairi by the shoulder.

"I don't want anyone to get hurt. You're not coming." Norton announced, "Go back where you came from. I'll take care of this."

"What? No way. We're coming with you and that's final!" Kairi huffed, slamming her foot on the ground.

"Do you _understand_ what these things can do to you? They'll de-rez you until you've been torn apart! I can't let that happen. Not to you, not to anyone." He explained, turning around.

"Oh _come off it_, emo boy." Yuffie yelled at him.

"Yeah, it's our choice. You can't make us leave!" Kairi yelled.

"Yes, I can. RAM, activate the terminal!" Norton yelled. Kairi and Yuffie pixilated then vanished.

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They appeared in Mickey's study. "Well?" the mouse asked, running over to them.

"We found some noble-minded jackass named Norbert who buzzed us out of there as quick as he could." Yuffie explained.

"Norton? The antivirus program?" Mickey asked.

"One and the same." Kairi stated.

"Interesting." The King pondered for a few seconds.

"What should we do now, your majesty?" Yuffie asked.

"For now, just get back in there and delete the virus, I suppose. I'll try to contact Norton, see what's up with him. In the mean time, tell me what you know about the virus." Mickey answered.

"It's called the FINAL virus. Apparently, Norton is a little overwhelmed by it." Kairi explained.

"Does he know where the Hive Mind is?" Mickey asked.

"No clue, but he mentioned something about a Hive Mind intercepting a message to his creators." Yuffie replied.

Mickey looked astonished, "He tried to send a message to the Hanso Foundation? Oh, that's just what we need right now, huh? Look, you can't allow him to even try to send another message to the Hanso Foundation. EMCOM is fine, but not Hanso, understand?" He asked.

"Understood!" Kairi and Yuffie chorused, saluting.

"We could do without the mockery, thank you. Now away you go!" Mickey yelled. Kairi and Yuffie were beamed back into the computer within seconds.

A/N: Sorry I didn't get around to Sora… I'll concentrate on him next chapter.

Anyway, here are my OCs so far, in case anyone's confused

A.K

Morgan

Riz

Slent

Morphun

Pyre

Norton

So… yeah… see you next chapter!


	12. Chapter 11: A Day in the Life

A/N: This chapter is basically things happening to a certain character. If you were looking forward to the first Battle of the Bands chapter, you'll have to wait until I figure out how to make in between 1000 and 2000 words without annoying the crap out of you, so you'll just have to wait, 'kay?

WARNING: This chapter consists mainly of adrenaline rushes. You have been warned.

Chapter 10: A Day in the Life

A.K looked down at the Great Maw sadly. His arms were crossed and he had his helmet down as well.

"Well fancy meeting you here." Someone said from behind A.K.

"You too, Pyre." A.K replied.

"What're you doing here?" Pyre asked, sneering.

"Reminiscing." A.K replied.

"I don't bother with emotions, A.K. Neither should you.

A.K closed his eyes and grimaced. "Don't you get it? This is where I first died, where I first… became one of you…"

"Don't feel bad, you've always been a loser, so just stay here and mope if you must. I've got bigger fish to fry." Pyre said, shrugging.

A.K summoned two Keyblades and turned towards Pyre. "I challenge you."

Pyre summoned two Keyblades as well. "Fair enough. The stakes?" he asked.

"My List against your current position in the Chasers." A.K said, his helmet flipping up to cover his head.

"You're so on." Pyre said, his helmet flipping up as well.

The two leapt into the air and slammed their Keyblades together. Pyre grinned and pushed hard on his Keyblades, releasing sparks into the air. Pyre kicked A.K hard in the chest and slammed his Keyblades into the injured man's chest, sending A.K flying down into the Great Maw. Pyre flipped down and planted his feet on either side of A.K's waist, cracking the ground. Claymores burst up around Pyre, but their attack bounced off of his armor. Pyre smiled wickedly and slammed down repeatedly towards A.K's head. A.K dodged the blows, then pushed spikes out of his kneecap armor and pushed up.

"You… bastard…" Pyre groaned as he toppled off of A.K. A.K leapt up and battered Pyre with Keyblade blows, denting the injured eunuch's armor until it started to crack. Suddenly, Pyre flipped up. "No position's worth this." He hissed. He then hurriedly vanished into a darkness portal, clutching at his groin.

A.K stared at his rusted and dented armor as it became grander and more lethal. "That was so worth it." He stated, grinning.

Suddenly, Stormtroopers appeared from positions all around the top of the Maw. "Suspect, freeze and cooperate, or be blasted to pieces." One droned.

"The hell with that, let's just kill the bitch. If we want to win back Lord Vader's favor, we need to do heroic deeds and shit." Another, seemingly a captain said.

"Very well then, CHARGE!" the previous trooper to have spoken yelled. Laser bolts appeared all around A.K, who just smiled as they harmlessly pattered off of his armor. Once the Stormtroopers had all reached the floor of the Great Maw, he raised his hand.

"Obey me, stone of the earth!" He yelled. The Maw shook as an earthquake rocked it. Stormtroopers were knocked down all throughout the crystal valley. A spire of stone lifted A.K up into the air as the Great Maw collapsed in on itself. Daintily he lowered himself to the newly heightened rock level. "Once again, completely worth it." He repeated, staring at his hands.

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"We're touching down now inside the Great Maw and- HOLY GOD WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?" The pilot yelled.

Vader groaned. He'd choke the imbecile if he had more time, but…. He looked out of the window at the Great Maw and saw A.K touch down in the center. He also saw that all of his soldiers were now lying dead under the rubble. _They tried to take a Chaser on by themselves? Fools to the end._ Vader thought, pulling his lightsaber out from his belt.

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A.K stared at the oncoming Imperial shuttle. "Today keeps getting more interesting." He stated as he aimed his Keyblades at the ship…

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Vader saw the oncoming megalasers, but he decided not to warn the captain. Instead he cut a hole in the wall with the blazing red beam of his lightsaber and leapt out, speeding down towards the Chaser…

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A.K stared as his megalasers disintegrated the shuttle instantly. To his displeasure, however, someone in black armor leapt out as the craft broke apart into individual molecules.

He ran towards the escapee and found himself looking at Darth Vader, right hand man to the emperor. He wondered who the left hand was as Vader stood up and ignited a red lightsaber.

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Vader charged at the Chaser. _They're worse than the Jedi were._ He thought. His lightsaber clashed with the Chaser's Keyblades. _Any second now, my lightsaber will slice through the flimsy metal and… huh? _The Chaser knocked Vader's lightsaber away among the rocks.

"Fetch your weapon." The Chaser snarled.

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A.K couldn't believe how naïve the guy was. _This_ was what killed the Jedi? What a joke! Vader leapt at A.K and the fight began in earnest. A.K's Keyblades whizzed around through the air, clashing with Vader's light-sword repeatedly. A.K slowly was beaten back, and then he decided not to hold back any longer. He shot a fireball at Vader and the dark Lord flew into a rocky outcropping. The rock then tumbled towards him, but it stopped in mid-air. "So that's the 'Force' you people babble on about. It ain't half bad. But I'm still going to win."

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Vader stood up and hurled the rocks at the Chaser. They harmlessly broke on the other man's armor. Vader attempted a Force Grip on his opponent.

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A.K felt a slight pressure on his neck. "That's odd. Oh, you're trying to _choke me_! Right. Hold on just a moment…" A.K mockingly shook himself, then faked choking, "Ak! Oh, gods in heaven, save me! Wait, I'm not dying! Whew, what a relief. Where were we?" he asked, scratching the back of his helmet.

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Vader stared incredulously at his opponent, and then ran towards the city as fast as possible, passing two officers on the way.

"There was a disturbance reported here?" the man asked. He was dressed in a brown coat and had a large sword over his shoulder.

"Don't even try to stop him, if you value your lives." Vader warned him. He then ran to the city to consult with his master.

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Leon stared at the man, "I know I've seen him before… but where?" he wondered aloud.

"Leon, we have a job to do!" Tifa reminded him.

"Yeah, sure." Leon replied. The two ran towards the Great Maw.

A/N: That's all folks! Next time will be the Battle of the Bands, but it probably won't be out for a few days. I need to recharge.

In the meantime, may your swords stay sharp!


	13. Chapter 12: The Real Battle of the Bands

Chapter 12: The Battle of the Bands- For Real this Time!

Sora, Demyx, Goofy and Donald waited backstage as the Goof Duo played a solely instrumental song. Soon the Duo took their bow, and Goofy wiped a tear from his eye as the announcer returned to the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, introducing… the Organization of Rock!" the announcer yelled into the microphone. Demyx and Sora took center stage, and Donald and Goofy walked onto an upper level ten feet above the stage, awaiting their cue. As the music started, Demyx summoned up his sitar in a flash of steam rather than water, courtesy of Donald. The audience applauded and Demyx began to play.

_Waiting for a change in the weather_

_I'm waiting for a shift in the air_

_Could we get it together- ever-_

_Hoping for your return_

_Hoping for your sweet, sweet return_

Sora joined in for the next verse

_Hello- is this heaven calling?_

_Hello- hello_

_Is somebody there?_

_She must be somewhere_

_And then she says_

_Hello- hello- hello_

_She's really an angel_

_She stands in the sunshine_

_She's closing her eyes-_

_She's starting to dream_

_She's pulling the strings_

_She's dreaming a strange dream_

_Where nothing is grey-_

_Then she takes me away _

_And she's pulling the strings_

_When she's playing with love_

Sora sang the last verse alone

_She's playing with love, hello- hello_

_Counting- I count every second_

_And I'm standing_

_I stand in the rain, _

_I walk up that lane_

_Which leads to the sunshine_

_She stands in the sunshine_

_She's closing her eyes_

_Then she takes me away_

_And she's pulling the strings_

_When she's playing with love_

Sora and Demyx slowly sang the last part.

_She's playing with love_

_Hello- hello_

Donald shot a flare spell up as the audience roared with applause. Sora and Demyx bowed and the curtain closed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, vote now for the two finalists! They will play tomorrow, and then the winner will perform an encore performance a month from now during the Radiant Garden Music Day Celebration Elite Battle of the Bands, sponsored by ENCOM." The announcer announced. "Get your votes in now, because rhythm doesn't wait for anyone. Goodnight, everybody!"

There was thunderous applause as the audience headed for the voting tables.

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The other three bands were relaxing as Sora and Demyx walked into the Artist's Lounge, followed by Donald and Goofy. Goofy's son stood up as they entered. "Dad!" he yelled as he ran towards Goofy. The two embraced.

"Gawrsh, Max, what're you and P.J doin' out here?" Goofy asked.

"Pete took us here on his business trip and signed us up for the Battle of the Bands! We haven't seen him since then, though." Max explained.

"Pete's here?" Sora asked.

"Yup, dad's somewhere here, working for Auntie Maleficent!" The miniature Pete answered.

"Maleficent?" Sora asked, summoning his Keyblade.

"Oh my god, you're Sora!" Max yelled. He shook Sora's free hand vigorously. "Dad told me all about you, but I never thought I'd get to meet you in person!" The members of the other bands turned towards the commotion. They started muttering, some in surprise, some in fear, and others in admiration. "P.J, it's Sora!" Max yelled to the miniature Pete.

P.J glared at Sora, "My dad says you're a mean person who I shouldn't talk to." He said, turning his back to the Keyblade wielder.

"P.J, I need you to tell me more about Maleficent. Where is she?" Sora pleaded. P.J kept his back turned. "P.J, I'm asking this as a favor." P.J kept his back turned.

"Sorry, Sora. P.J can be a little stubborn." Max explained, "P.J, if you tell Sora what he wants to know, he'll take us out for ice cream."

P.J snapped around, "Maleficent lives in this big floating castle thingy with a whole bunch of other people who're gonna help her make the worlds better. My dad came here to recruit someone name Gabriella to Maleficent's cause. At least I think it was Gabriella… huh… weird name for a guy…" He said, "Now when do we get ice cream?"

"As soon as I finish a phone call." Sora replied.

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"King Mickey. I want to call King Mickey of Disney Castle." Sora spoke into the videophone. Mickey's face appeared onscreen.

"Hey, Sora. What's up?" he asked

"Maleficent's back, and she's got a whole bunch more villains with her. I talked to Pete's son and he said she's living in a floating castle.

"Do you think…?" Mickey asked.

"I think it's the Castle that Never Was, but I saw the Organization in a dream, and Demyx is with me on Radiant Garden right now, so…" Sora trailed off.

"You're trusting Demyx? Look, something big is starting right now, and I don't know when it'll end. I'll get over there as soon as I can, in the meantime…" Mickey said. Suddenly the line fizzed out into static. Sora heard a loud rumbling noise coming from the Bailey. He ran over to see what the matter was, but he hit Leon and Tifa head-on as they were running towards the disturbance.

"Sorry, you guys." He said.

"Sora, when did you get her?" Tifa asked. Sora was about to answer when Leon cut in.

"There's no time for formalities, we need to move fast." Leon stated, and the two ran off again.

"Ready for ice cream?" P.J asked innocently.

Sora was about to say no, but something made him change his mind, "Sure, P.J. We'll head out right now."

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Mickey turned off the static- covered screen of the videophone and leaned back in his chair.

"Hello, your majesty." Someone said. Mickey stood, Keyblade in hand, as he faced the armored figure.

"You're not getting my Keyblade, Chaser." He warned the other.

"What's a Keyblade?" the man asked.

"Don't joke around, I know what Chasers do to Keyblade wielders, and I won't stand for it." Mickey snarled.

"You know who I am? Please, tell me!" The armored figure pleaded. "Who're the Chasers, and am I on Pyre or Aqua's side? What's up with this armor? Please, tell me what you know!"

Mickey contemplated the man's response. It was probably a lie, but should he stoop to the Chaser's level and kill him? If the man was telling the truth, killing him could bring Mickey closer to becoming a Chaser himself. He would have to take a chance on the man. "What's your name?" he asked cautiously.

"Ven." The man replied.

A.N: Plot twists galore, no? The song was A Victory of Love by Alphaville, and I don't own it, nor do I own anything but the plot and my OCs.

Not sure what I'll do next chapter, but either Sora or Kairi will get their first summon.

May your swords stay sharp!


	14. Chapter 13: The FINAL Issue, part I

Chapter 13: The FINAL Issue

Kairi and Yuffie stepped out into the computer world. They were behind the firewall, but Norton was nowhere to be found, nor was RAM. FINAL viruses clung to the firewall once again, and the wall looked as though it was getting thinner. Yuffie threw her shuriken, and the FINAL viruses crumpled in on themselves and zipped away towards an enormous digital palace that hadn't been there last time. Male and female programs marched silently, led by FINAL orbs. The two girls ran out and started towards the palace.

It wasn't long before they reached the gates, but dozens of FINAL orbs blocked their passage. Kairi and Yuffie nodded to each other and began to wade through the foes. Many orbs were destroyed, but there proved to be too many, and the girls were overwhelmed. Their limbs were shackled and the orbs dragged the two into the palace.

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Kairi awoke in a small room. She was strapped to the wall by her hands, and Yuffie was next to her, still hanging limp. Kairi cursed the viruses, and then summoned her Keyblade.

When she tried to summon her blade, she felt a sharp pain as she was de-rezzed. The pain only stopped when she gave up on summoning it. _Norton, where are you? _She asked mentally.

_I'm here, Kairi. _Norton replied from inside her head.

"What the?" Kairi muttered.

_I'm transmitting through RAM. Listen to me, the guards will be coming soon to take you to the Hive Mind. They've already picked me up from my cell. Try to figure out what's de-rezzing you. I have a plan._ Norton explained.

Kairi looked around for a while until she spotted what looked like a cheap sci-fi ray gun hanging from the ceiling. _It's some gun thing. Right above my head. _Kairi thought back. For good measure, she sent him a mental picture of the device.

_I'm almost there. Hang on tight to something._

Suddenly the wall opposite the two girls blew inwards. It hit the top of the wall Kairi and Yuffie were strapped to, and the two girls flew backwards into the hallway behind them. Kairi broke the bonds on her and Yuffie, and then turned towards where the wall had been blown in.

"You might want to hurry. It's possible someone heard that." Norton suggested, a three-foot diameter RAM behind him.

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Kairi and Yuffie followed the antivirus program closely as he turned through the many hallways of the palace, blowing away any unfortunate FINAL virus that happened to get in the way of the party.

Eventually they reached a huge door. "Typical." Norton muttered, turning around. "Through this door lies the FINAL virus Hive Mind. Are you two _sure_ you want to go in?"

"Of course we do. C'mon, Kairi!" Yuffie huffed, dragging Kairi through the door.

The three stood in an impossibly high silver chamber. A wall of inky blackness obscured the other end of the hall. "You've done well, Norton." A voice said. "Now kill them both, and be quick about it. I haven't got all day, you know."

"What does the voice mean 'kill us'?" Yuffie asked Norton. She turned just in time to see Norton leap at Kairi, a huge sword in each of his hands. "Kairi, behind you!"

Kairi turned in time to see Norton attack her viciously, scoring hit after hit on her. Finally, she was able to concentrate enough to draw her Keyblade, and blocked an attack that she knew would have finished her off. Yuffie swung her shuriken around herself, repeatedly hitting Norton. He snarled. "Debug!" he yelled. Kairi and Yuffie were flung back across the room, and Kairi fell unconscious. Norton charged up for a while, then, as Yuffie was about to strike him once again, yelled out "DEBUG 3!" A huge ball of energy rocketed towards Yuffie, but she batted it back.

"Take that, you traitorous piece of crap!" She yelled as Norton hit the wall of darkness and started to writhe as he was slowly deleted. Yuffie ran to Kairi and administered an elixir to her. The two girls turned and saw Norton hit the ground, continuing to twist and turn.

Norton stood up. He was now dressed in pitch-black armor with purple lines, but it only covered most of his body. His right arm had been replaced with one of pure darkness, and bat-like wings sprouted out of his back. The heartless emblem was displayed prominently on his chest. "Ladies, I give you Norton V.3!" the voice yelled.

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Leon and Tifa ran past the mysterious man, and towards the Great Maw.

A/N: And there's the short chapter 13. Yeah, no summons. Sorry. However, Sora will get one in the next chapter (it will be longer than this one), which will feature the final match in the Battle of the Bands.

May your swords stay sharp!


	15. Chapter 14: The Final Round

Chapter 14: Battle of the Bands Finals

"Ladies and gentlemen, your votes have been tallied, and we are now proud to say that the Oppressors and the Velvet Pincushions have been eliminated from the Battle! Two bands remain, The Organization of Rock and the Goof Duo! Let's see them perform for you today!" The announcer yelled. The members of the two bands ran onstage and bowed. "You saw them perform yesterday, but they've now cooked up new acts just for you." The man brought the microphone up to Sora, "Tell me, what goes through your mind when you perform?"

"It's really all about having fun. Of course, the trophy wouldn't hurt…" Sora replied, now caught up in the moment. The audience laughed.

"And mister… Demyx, is it?" Demyx nodded, "How do you feel performing with the savior of the worlds?"

"It's fun. He's a nice guy, and he makes a mean brownie." Demyx replied.

"I do?" Sora asked. The audience broke out into laughter once more.

"And you, young Max. How does it feel to be performing against the Keyblade Wielder?" He asked Max.

"I just hope he knows who he's messing with." Max said.

"There they are. First up to perform is… the Goof Duo!"

Backstage, Sora turned to Demyx, "Your life's in the balance. How're you hanging up here?" he asked.

"I'm fine. God, I wish I could feel the excitement right now." He replied.

Eventually Max and P.J finished their song. The audience applauded, and the two dogs ran backstage. Sora and Demyx ran onto the raised platform, while Donald and Goofy stayed below.

Sora started the song

_Some things in life are bad_

_They can really make you mad_

_Other thing just make you swear and curse._

_When you're chewing on life's gristle,_

_Don't grumble, Give a whistle!_

_And this'll help things turn out for the best…_

Demyx, Donald and Goof y broke in.

_And… Always look on the bright side of life!_

_Always look on the right side of life._

Demyx sang the next verse

_If life seems jolly rotten,_

_There's something you've forgotten! _

_And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing!_

_When you're feeling in the dumps,_

_Don't be silly chumps,_

Sora and Demyx sang the rest together

_Just purse your lips and whistle that's the thing!_

_And… Always look on the bright side of life…_

_Always look on the right side of life!_

_For life is quite absurd_

_And death's the final word _

_You must always face the curtain with a bow._

_Forget about your sin_

_Give the audience a grin!_

_Enjoy it; it's your last chance anyhow!_

_And… Always look on the bright side of death!_

_Just before you draw your terminal breath._

_Life's a piece of shit,_

_When you look at it._

_Life's a laugh_

_And death's a joke, it's true._

_You'll see it's all a show,_

_Keep 'em laughin' as you go!_

_Just remember that the last laugh is on you._

_And… Always look on the bright side of life!_

_Always look on the light… side of life!_

_Side of life! _

_Side of LIFE!_

The audience broke out into applause again, louder than they had last time the group performed. Sora, Demyx, Donald and Goofy bowed and left the stage.

"That's all, folks! Votes will be tallied in an hour, and the winner will be crowned. So please, hurry up and vote!" the announcer yelled.

The four went backstage and relaxed in the Artist's Lounge. Donald and Goofy fell asleep, and Max and P.J were off getting sodas for the group. Sora lay back on the couch and sighed. Demyx looked at him from across the room. "Sora, is it okay if I keep traveling with you once I get my heart back? I don't have anywhere else to take my miserable self, so…" He asked.

Sora smiled at Demyx and shot him a thumbs-up, then fell asleep.

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Sora stood in the middle of pure light. He covered his eyes with his hands and saw several silhouettes standing around him.

"The Conclave meeting, commence it shall." A shorter shadow announced.

"Sora, chosen wielder of the Keyblade, we have need of your services." A shadow that appeared to be in a wheelchair said wisely.

"THE KEYBLADE WARS HAVE BEGUN AGAIN, AND WE FEAR THERE MAY BE NO STOPPING THEM WITHOUT MORE KEYBLADE WIELDERS." A shadow in a cloak with a scythe explained.

"What do you need me to do?" Sora asked.

"A ship has been prepared for you. Find a crew, and find the Keyblade Wielders of each world." Another cloaked figure answered. "Good luck, you'll need it."

"Don't worry; everything you need to find them is on the ship. Everything but the crew is prepared." The one in the wheelchair spoke again.

"We'll watch over you." A giant creature, possibly a lion, assured Sora.

"Meeting adjourned." The short one announced.

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Sora woke up with Demyx standing above him, "C'mon, they're about to announce the winner!" He reminded Sora. The brown-haired boy fell off of the sofa and stood up sharply.

"What're we waiting for?" Sora asked, running towards the stage.

"This is it, folks. Here and now the contest will be decided. Your votes have been counted, and the winners name is inside my suit as I speak." The announcer yelled. He pulled out an envelope. "The winner is… the Organization of Rock!" Sora, Demyx, Donald and Goofy jumped up and down, while Max and P.J sighed. "They will receive the trophy, a place in the Elite Battle of the Bands, and 2 million munny! But first, they will, before your very eyes, destroy a heartless!" the announcer opened up the container where the Shadow had been held, and it leapt straight for Demyx. It slammed into the Nobody, and his chest rippled.

"YES! GOD YES! IT FEELS… GREAT! HA! IT FEELS!" Demyx leapt into the air and started dancing. Sora smiled and the audience looked up with confusion.

"And now, we present the Battle of the Bands trophy and prize munny. Heh. That's all, everyone!" the announcer yelled nervously as the curtains closed.

A/N: Yay for Demyx! C'mon, you know you're happy about this! Next chapter we wrap up the Disney Network World for now…

May your swords stay sharp!


	16. Chapter 15: The FINAL Issue, Part II

Chapter 15: The FINAL Issue Part II

Norton stared at the two girls, and then he ran towards them, his arm of darkness formed into a sword. Kairi sidestepped the charge and slashed him with her Keyblade. He moved to the other side of the room and blasted the two with a barrage of dark blasts. Several hit Yuffie, but Kairi bounced most of the bolts back with her Keyblade. Norton leapt into the air and rippled through the ceiling without harming it. Suddenly he burst out of the ground below Yuffie and blasted her with dark bolts. She soared up to the ceiling where Norton caught her once again and slammed her into Kairi. He picked up Yuffie's shuriken.

"You bastard!" Kairi yelled. There was a flash of light and Kairi's clothing turned yellow. The words _Ninja Form _flitted through her head. Her Keyblade had changed, with a new keychain at the bottom. The name _Grand Shuriken _flitted through Kairi's head. It was now prepared for throwing rather than slashing. Kairi tossed it repeatedly at Norton, but eventually Kairi reverted to her normal form. As she did, Norton kneeled down and disintegrated.

"How fun was that. Congratulations, girl, you've destroyed the greatest threat to my dominance of this computer. I thank you." The voice said. The dark wall in the middle of the room dissolved, and Kairi got a good look at what she assumed was the Hive Mind.

The Hive Mind was a serpent-like creature. It had one arm that looked much like that of a praying mantis but larger and with a very sharp blade that was dripping with what appeared to be poison. The head of the creature was a metal plate with a red gem in the middle. "Gross." Yuffie stated as she stood up shakily.

"Awaken, my children! We strike now!" Suddenly, all of the orbs burst apart, and miniature versions of the Hive Mind started to fly around the throne room, every once in a while striking at Kairi or Yuffie. The two girls waded through the foes until few were left. Those remaining fled to do more of the Hive Mind's bidding. Tortured screams sounded from outside as programs were savaged by the viruses.

"You can't do that! They never did anything to you!" Kairi yelled at the Hive Mind.

"They're here, and that's all the justification I need. Why do you care? I'm about to_ delete you!_" There was a thundering noise and the throne room sealed with a transparent force field. The Hive Mind hissed and leapt at the heroines. Yuffie and Kairi moved to either side of the hive mind, but an enormous shockwave knocked them to the ground. The Hive Mind wrapped its tail around Kairi and flew up towards the ceiling, repeatedly striking her with its clawed arm. It then flipped her into the air and slammed her into the opposite wall with its tail. Kairi slumped to the ground, pale and unconscious.

"You bitch, get down here and fight fair!" Yuffie yelled at the Hive Mind. She threw her shuriken upwards and it embedded itself within the Hive Mind's underbelly. While the creature was stunned, Yuffie jumped up and twisted the shuriken, severely damaging the creature. A stream of blue data leaked out of the wound instead of blood or darkness, and the Hive Mind fell to the floor. Yuffie bashed its head repeatedly with her shuriken, but the beast was soon in the air again. Yuffie was suddenly hit by a de-rez attack, and she hit the wall next to Kairi, who was apparently being slowly deleted. Kairi's fingers were all gone, and her feet were disappearing as well.

"This gem gives me ultimate power! You can't stop me!" the Hive Mind yelled. Suddenly the gem cracked as a shuriken and a Keyblade slammed into it.

"Advice to you: Don't monologue." Yuffie said as she and Kairi stood.

"You little… I'll still delete you!" the Hive Mind yelled, the gem crackling as blue data gushed out of it. Kairi and Yuffie jumped as it charged, and sliced their weapons all the way down its back. The Hive Mind split into three pieces and disintegrated.

"That was… fun…" Kairi stated unsurely.

Suddenly they saw RAM peek out from behind a pillar. They drew their weapons and RAM cowered. "I don't think he wants to hurt us." Kairi reassured Yuffie. The two girls cautiously approached the pillar. They saw RAM and the orb projected a life-size hologram of Norton in front of the girls.

"Kairi and Yuffie," the image started, "I suppose I must account for my actions. As I told you, I was created by ENCOM and the Hanso Foundation to better combat viruses. Once the project was finished, a copy of me was given to ENCOM, and a copy was given to the Hanso Foundation. A year passed, and the copies of me were finished with testing, and ENCOM planned to mass produce them. They forgot to tell the Hanso Foundation, so Alivar Hanso began a new project, a virus designed to incapacitate the Norton antivirus system by taking control of it. They called it the ALPHA virus. Soon, the virus was released, and all copies of Norton version one were exterminated. ENCOM retaliated by creating Norton V.2, but they created then in smaller quantities, sending them around to clean out the ALPHA virus. Hanso took his copy of Norton V.1 and altered its programming, transforming it into the first FINAL virus. Since Norton V.2 was a remake of V.1, the FINAL virus was able to take complete control over any Norton antivirus that stood in its way. The Hanso Foundation then wiped out several branches of ENCOM, killing all of the workers. The FINAL viruses here were a weaker prototype sold to the Empire on their first test run. Destroy Alivar Hanso." The image crackled and died.

"Wow. That was… complicated." Yuffie stated, scratching the back of her head, "I'm lost. Whose side was Norton on?"

"I'm not sure, but if the Hanso Foundation was as bad as he says it was, I can't stand to see them continue. Sora can take care of himself, we need to stop Hanso." Kairi said resolutely.

"Glad to hear it." Norton said, stumbling out of the corner of the room.

A/N: The Disney Network's about wrapped up… a little more and the girls are going to start worldfaring. Sora starts worldfaring soon as well.

The next chapter's going to by tricky. It will be short, but it'll include a contest of sorts, so keep an eye out for it!

May your swords stay sharp!


	17. Chapter 16: Find the Ship

Chapter 16: Find a Crew

Sora walked out of the Battle of the Bands hall with Demyx (now Myde), Donald and Goofy behind him. "Where's that ship…" he muttered to himself.

"What ship, Sora?" Donald asked.

"Before we won, I had this weird vision where a whole bunch of old people were standing around me, and they said they prepared a ship for me. They just forgot to tell me where it is."

"Then let's start looking," Myde resolved, "We'll split up. Sora'll go to the docks, I'll search the Great Maw and Crystal Fissure, and Donald and Goofy can search the town as they see fit. Meet back here in an hour." With that, Myde ran off.

Sora, Donald and Goofy shrugged and walked towards where Demyx had sent them.

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Leon looked at the armored man. Leon and Tifa had tried to arrest the guy a minute ago, and now they were lying bloodied and helpless on the ground. "Despicable. Did you really think that you could accost me? I'm a Chaser once again! Now tell me…" he said, pulling Leon's face up to his own, "Where… is… Sora?"

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Sora stared at the magnificent ships along the docks. There were many of them he'd love to own, but something in his mind told him that he hadn't found it yet. He arrived at the end of the docks, and still hadn't found anything. "Guess it isn't here." He said before running back to meet the others.

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"What're we looking for?" Goofy asked Donald.

"We're lookin' for a ship someone in Sora's dream was talking about!" Donald replied, exasperated.

"Gawrsh, why're we eating ice cream then?" Goofy asked.

"Because Uncle Scrooge got the recipe right! I never turn down free ice cream!" Donald said, licking the blue Popsicle.

"Look, Donald! D'ya think that's our ship?" Goofy asked, pointing to a Gummi ship that had appeared in the Bailey.

"I don't know, Goofy." Donald replied.

"It is called the _HMS Sora_." Goofy pointed out.

"You ever heard of fangirls? Maybe one named their ship after him. It doesn't automatically make it our ship if it's called the _HMS Sora_." Donald replied.

"If you say so, Donald." Goofy replied before turning back to his ice cream.

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"A ship for Sora?" Myde looked out at the empty remains of the Great Maw. "It could be under all of this, but I doubt it. If these people in Sora's dream are trying to help him, they wouldn't put it under rocks. Ah, well." As Myde turned and left through the Crystal Fissure, a black-armored man with two body bags over one shoulder followed closely.

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Sora stared at the ship in the Bailey, "I think this is it." He said. "Now to find a crew…" he walked inside and immediately saw a list. It read:

Required Crew:

1 Captain

1-2 Pilots

1-3 Navigators

2-5 Doctors

1-2 Cooks

Cleaning staff

5-20 varied warriors and crew members

THIS SHIP CAN ALSO HOLD UP TO 120 PASSENGERS COMFORTABLY.

"I suppose I'm off to find a crew." Sora stated.

A/N: Told you it'd be short. I now need help deciding what crew members will fill the following positions:

Pilots

Navigators

10 warriors

PLEASE REVIEW AND GIVE SUGGESTIONS, EVEN IT YOU DON'T BELONG TO THE SITE! THE LITTLE GREY BUTTON NEEDS YOU!


	18. Chapter 17: Find a Crew Part I

Chapter 17: Finding a Crew Part I

A/N: I filled the slots, so voting is over. I do hope you like the crew, though.

Remember, the crew consists of

1 Captain

1-2 Pilots

1-3 Navigators

2-5 Doctors

1-2 Cooks

Cleaning staff

5-20 varied warriors and crew members

Let's get this party started!

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Sora stood outside his ship. _I suppose Chip and Dale can be the pilots… Goofy and Donald would be warriors… well, I won't find a crew standing here!_ He set off to find a crew.

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The first building Sora came upon was Sacred Heart Hospital. As he stood in front, someone on a blue motor scooter knocked him over, "Out of control scooter!" the driver yelled, but it was too late.

The man who had been cleaning at the Battle of the Bands stage walked up, "So worth it." He stated.

"Hey, you're that guy from the Battle of the Bands! Thanks for convincing us to enter, it was worth it." Sora exclaimed to the horrified shouts of the scooter driver.

The man covered up his nametag as Sora attempted to read it, "Just call me Janitor, kid. Now if you'll excuse me…" Janitor painted a white X on the ground with a paint can that appeared out of nowhere. "Three… two… one…" Suddenly, the scooter driver slammed straight into the middle of the X, spreading paint across his face.

"Why, Janitor?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

"It's fun." Janitor replied before heading into the hospital.

"Can you believe that guy?" the man asked, slowly standing up, "That's the fifth time this week he's ruined Sasha… and its only Tuesday! Oh, I'm J.D." he said, offering his hand to Sora.

"I'm Sora." He said, shaking it vigorously, "I've always wanted to be a doctor."

"It takes a little while to get through Med School, kid. However, I guess I could show you around Sacred Heart…" the man drifted off, hid head moving to the left and up towards the sky. Sora waved his hand in front of J.D's face and the doctor snapped out of it. "I'm sorry, I just have these weird fantasies sometimes… C'mon, I'll show you around."

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J.D led Sora through the hospital, introducing him to various members of the staff along the way. Eventually they came across a tall man with extremely short red hair. The man let out a loud, shrill whistle the walked over to the two. "Newbie, today isn't 'Bring your Hubby to Work Day,' nor is it "Give some Random Kid on the Street a Tour Day.' In short, get the kid out, and get back to work. Kid, go home." The man ranted. He flipped Sora a twenty munny coin, "Buy yourself smaller shoes." He pleaded before leaving.

"That was Doctor Cox, Chief Attending at Sacred Heart, and my personal mentor." J.D remarked.

Doctor Cox was back within two seconds, "What did you call me?" he asked.

"He called you his mentor, Perry. Now leave him alone. Just because he's young and stupid, without any real knowledge of medicine, doesn't mean you should kill him… I would, but you've grown soft." A man said from behind Doctor Cox. This doctor was dressed in a suit and tie, and he held a cane in one hand.

"Ah, the mystery-solving Gregory House graces us with his presence. How are things up on high?" Doctor Cox asked, slowly turning around. House just shook his head and hobbled on down the hall. Cox turned towards J.D and Sora, "If there's one thing I hate more than Hugh Jackman, it's that guy. I actually respect Doctor Shed's work. Now, where was I?"

"You were about to start ranting about why you really aren't my mentor, call me a few girls' names, then walk away red as a tomato." J.D responded.

Doctor Cox moved his mouth for a few seconds, and then walked away. "Hey, J.D, would you be interested in being a doctor on my ship? I'm sorta recruiting." Sora asked. Suddenly, a dark-skinned male surgeon popped up out of nowhere, blood splattered on his green scrubs.

"Any descisions affecting my man J.D need to be verified by me, dude." He said.

"Turk, it's okay, you can come too." J.D soothed the surgeon.

"Alright! Interstellar voyage, here I come! I just gotta say goodbye to Carla." He ran off as fast as he had arrived.

"It's okay if he comes along, right?" J.D asked Sora.

_I can't do this all on my own,_

_No I know_

_I'm no superman!_

Sora twitched, "That was… odd… kinda like a theme song, but…"

Suddenly Turk appeared with a Hispanic nurse. "Whatever interstellar voyage Turk goes on, I'm going on, too." She demanded.

"Ooh, an interstellar voyage! This will be fun! I'm officially invited." Doctor Cox squealed, jumping into the group, "C'mon, grow up you three. Some thirteen year old kid isn't going on any voyage through space." He said.

"I'll come. Nothing exciting ever happens here." House said, hobbling up to the group.

"I'm in." Cox said immediately.

"My ship's in the Bailey. Meet me there, okay?" Sora asked. The doctors nodded and walked (or hobbled) off.

"I'm coming with you." Janitor said, walking up. "You need a cleaning crew, so I'm your man. I just want permission to do whatever I want to that Jay-Dee guy," he explained, exaggerating J.D's name.

"The more the merrier!" Sora said. He reached out for Janitor's hand, but the man enveloped Sora in a bone-crushing hug. "Choking, not breathing." Sora pleaded.

"Right, Sorry." Janitor said, letting go of Sora, "I just…" the man wiped an imaginary tear from his eye, "This is the opportunity to put food on the table for all of my twenty-seven and a third kids." He said, and ran off, dragging his Janitorial cart behind him.

"That was… fast…" Sora stated, rubbing his eyes.

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"I suppose I should look for good restaurants…" Sora muttered to himself. He soon saw a huge restaurant called _Le Petite Reginald_. There was a huge neon image of a fat chef in front. Sora snuck around back, and looked at the cooks.

There weren't many cooks, but there was a large muscular man in a chef's hat chopping fish up on a stove. Sora threw a small rock at him and the man jumped into the air. "They've found me! I don't know how, but they've found me!" He exclaimed. The man proceeded to attempt to hide under the stove but, due to his girth, he was only able to knock it over. The stove crashed through the ground, sending splinters flying. The chef shrieked and realized he was trapped as what appeared to be the head chef approached.

"Kronk," he said in a sickly sweet voice, "You're fired!"

"This is one of those practical jokes, right? Where's the camera?" Kronk looked down the hole and fell in, "Darn my massive density!" he yelled as he fell.

"Hey!" Sora yelled to the head chef, "Where does that lead to?"

"It lead to the sewers, child. Now go, ragamuffin!" the man yelled, now pink in the face. Sora ran off and opened a manhole cover to see Kronk climbing up.

"I have a third angel? Wow, I must be important now." Kronk stated.

"Hey, Kronk, right?" Sora yelled down, "How would you like to go on the journey of a lifetime?"

A/N: Hey, everybody! For the warriors, I'm using the likeness of any of my reviewers who wants to. Just tell me a name (Doesn't have to be your real one), age, weapon, etc.

NO KEYBLADES! I don't want a ship full of Mary Sues and Gary Stus here. Be a little modest with your character, please (You can have magic, though… plain KH or your own)


	19. Chapter 18: Find a Crew Part II

Chapter 18: Find a Crew, Part II (or reign of the OCs, if you prefer)

"Warriors, huh? I guess the best place to look would be a fight club or something…" Sora pondered. He had convinced Kronk to join his crew, and he was now searching for warriors.

He walked through the town for over half of an hour before running into a girl slightly older than him going the other way. She had blue eyes and brown hair with purple highlights that flopped over one of her eyes. "Hey, watch where you're going, you freak!" she yelled.

"Sorry." Sora muttered.

"Hey, you're Sora! In that case, sorry isn't good enough. I want you to kiss me."

"You… what…?" Sora asked, dumbstruck.

"If you don't, I'll yell that you're a rapist, and you wouldn't want that, now would you?" she asked smugly.

"I…"

"C'mon," she demanded, puckering up her lips.

_Oh, damn._ Sora thought. He leaned in to kiss her, but knocked her unconscious with his fist. He ran off. _Please don't make her follow me._ He pleaded silently to whatever celestial being was listening.

Apparently none were, because she ran after him yelling "Rapist, rapist!" over and over. Soon several people were following Sora.

"Damnit." He muttered under his breath. Suddenly a man in leather armor jumped down from a rooftop.

"I don't care what Alison wants you for, just get out now." He warned Sora, pulling out a longsword. Sora nodded quickly and ran off.

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"Wonder what he's running from?" a man casually asked the female who was next to him at the coffeeshop.

"Don't know, don't care." She replied, taking another sip of her coffee.

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"Alison, you can't run around accusing random people of being rapists. It didn't work last week and it won't work now." The man said to the girl.

"Don't be such a spoilsport, Ranger. And besides, that other guy looked just like Riku." She whined.

"I don't know why I put up with you." Ranger replied, sheathing his sword.

"You're my bodyguard, silly!" she replied. Ranger sweatdropped.

"If you weren't his granddaughter, I'd hurt you." Ranger threatened.

"Yeah, 'cause if you did, he'd so totally kill you! You do know that that really was Sora, right?" she asked.

"Go ahead and chase him if you must, but no more riling up the public, okay?" he pleaded.

Alison saluted, "Aye, captain!" she said before running off to wherever Sora had gone.

"What have I done?" Ranger asked himself.

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As Sora ran, he saw the Alchemist's Guild in front of him. He was about to enter when two teenagers about Sora's age ran out. One was a girl, and the other was a boy.

"Get out of the way!" one yelled. Sora stared at them for a second, and then he was trampled into the street.

Sora had no idead what was happening, until he looked at the Guild building. The entire thing erupted; green goo splattering the street and singing holes in it. The three gave each other high fives, and Sora ran his hand along his face to make sure it wasn't on fire. He found that it was smooth and flawless skin, and he was relatively happy… until he realized that his eyebrows and eyelashes were missing. One of the boys offered Sora his hand. Sora took it, and the boy helped him up.

"Sorry about that." The boy said. He had short blond hair and blue eyes. A silver scimitar was strapped to his back. He wore a loose fitting brown robe covered in stains and burn marks.

"Eric, we gotta get out of here before old man Riley catches us!" the girl yelled. She had jet black hair and brown eyes. Two spears were strapped to her back, and she wore a leather jacket with baggy pants.

"Coming, Alex." Eric remarked. He shrugged at Sora and ran off to catch up to her.

"How odd…" Sora remarked. Suddenly, the girl from before slammed into him.

"SORA!" she yelled before kissing him.

"Who are you?" he asked, wiping his lips off.

"FYI, I'm Alison, the Great Warrior! Wanna hear my theme song?" she asked eagerly.

"No, that's really…"

"_I'm Alison, the great warrior…"_

"Alison, what in the worlds did he do to deserve that?" Ranger yelled, his ears plugged.

"Remember, Ranger, I can call grandpa in and he'll tear you to shreds!" she chided.

"Don't remind me." Ranger stated, sweatdropping once more.

"Anyway, I heard you're looking for warriors, so Rangy and I are in." she stated, turning to Sora.

"Do I get a say in this?" Ranger asked from the background.

An old man covered in soot walked out of the remains of the Guild building, "Have you seen two kids? They're about your age, a boy and a girl…"

Sora shrugged, "Never seen 'em." He replied. The old man went in the opposite direction of where Eric and Alex had left. "Now, about joining the crew…"

"I'll be good, honest!" Alison pleaded.

"That's what she said when I got stuck with her." Ranger intoned.

"Just shut up, Ranger!" she yelled.

"You can come, but no following, glomping, kissing or 'I'm his girlfriend's will ensue, right?" Sora asked.

"It's okay, I'll just annoy Rangy-poo!" She yelled.

"My life is over." Ranger intoned.

"Would you stop doing that?" Alison yelled.

"Whatever." Ranger stated coolly before taking out a battered book and starting to read.

"Excuse me for a moment." Alison said to Sora. She then summoned up a dark portal, "Grandpa? Ranger's being really…."

Ranger leapt up and ran to her, "Nice! I'm being nice, Lord." He said, braiding her hair.

The person on the other end of the portal said a few unintelligible words and the portal vanished.

"Ranger, don't braid my hair, it makes me look preppy." Alison commanded.

"Heh, as you wish." He replied, scratching the back of his head and smiling.

"My ship's in the Bailey." Sora told them.

"Great!" Alison yelled. She grabbed Ranger and dragged him off. Ranger shot Sora the bird from behind her as he was dragged towards the Bailey.

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Sora looked for warriors, and he eventually saw a building with a neon sign that said _Master Blackheart's Dojo_. Sora entered, and he saw a man with claws strapped to the backs of his hands sparring with a teenager. "Use your strengths, Skye. You're small, I'm big, you're quick, and I'm not." The boy whipped around the man and tried to hit him in the back, but the man grabbed Skye's hand and flipped the teenager over his shoulder, pointing claws at Skye's neck. "Looks like today won't be the day when you beat me." The old man said playfully. Skye tore off his own claws and stalked out of the room.

"Ah, what can I do for you?" The old man asked Sora.

"Nothing, I'm just recruiting for a voyage to save the worlds. I'm Sora, the Keyblade Wielder." Sora explained.

"Ah, the one who saved us all, eh?" The man asked, "Tell you what, if you can beat me, I'll go with you. If you can't…"

"I'll go with you." Skye announced.

"No, Skye. You still have things to learn before you even think of…" the man started, but Skye cut him off.

"Dad, I can do this. You can't keep me here forever." Skye replied.

"So be it. Well, Keyblade Master?" his father replied.

"I… guess…" Sora stated.

The man pointed his claws at Sora. "When you're ready." He said. Sora picked up a wooden sword and attacked. "Never make the first move against a living opponent." The man reminded Sora as he blocked the attack and struck back.

"Point!" Skye yelled from the side of the battle.

"This time, I suppose I'll attack." The man ran at Sora and the Keyblade Wielder scored a point on the man.

"Point! Next point wins!" Skye yelled.

Both warriors waited for the other to move, then lunged at the same time. The old man twisted in the air and scored the winning point on Sora. "There we go." The old man said. "Take my son and leave, but he must come back eventually."

Skye raced out the door. Sora shrugged and followed him.

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"Three warriors so far… two to go, then." Sora muttered to himself as he moved through the town. Eventually he spied a coffee shop near the area where Alison had been following him. He ordered a sea-salt ice cream (Scrooge's brand, of course) and a coffee, and then sat down next to a man and a woman. The woman wore leather armor with metal bits on it, and the man had a green outfit with several belts on it (see Shire Folk's descriptions).

"You're not… Sora, are you?" The man asked.

"If I am?" Sora asked.

"I'd really like to thank you. You saved our world twice from the Heartless. You know, Olympic Coliseum?" he asked.

"I'm Sora, then." Sora said.

"We heard you're recruiting for a space journey and we wish to come with you." The woman said, "I'm Kia, and this is Arden. We're decent warriors."

"I suppose… you wouldn't be any weirder than the rest of the people on board. Ship's in the Bailey. We leave in two hours. Tell all of the others that for me, will you?"

"Sure thing!" Kia said, "C'mon, Arden!" with that they left.

Sora picked up his drink. "That didn't take long." He remarked.

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Sora was walking towards the Bailey when suddenly he ran into a force field identical to the ones that would pop up before a battle. He turned and saw a man in black armor with his knife to Leon's neck. "Give me the Keyblade, and I won't kill him." The man hissed.

"Sora, don't…" Leon started.

"Shut up, Squall." The man hissed.

"My… name's… Leon…" Leon replied.

Sora looked at the man, "Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Chaser Lieutenant A.K, squirt. Now give me the Keyblade, or your friend gets it." A.K hissed.

Sora summoned Oblivion, "No thanks." He said before running at A.K. The Chaser tossed Leon aside and blocked Sora's attack with two Keyblades of his own. "What the… Keyblades?" Sora asked.

"Not so special now, huh?" A.K snarled before knocking Sora towards the Bailey.

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Sora hit the ground of the Bailey with a soft thud. His crew was gathered around the ship. "He was telling the truth." House remarked.

"I knew that." Doctor Cox snapped at him.

Turk and J.D were jumping up and down in excitement, while Carla stared at them. Suddenly Janitor put glue underneath J.D's feet and snuck off, leaving the young doctor to wiggle miserably from side to side until he fell over, tearing the glue.

Ranger was in a corner reading a book while Alison talked animatedly with Skye. Kia and Arden were apparently teaching Myde how to use a sword, which the boy wasn't taking well to. He constantly slipped up, and he eventually threw the sword away in disgust.

"Everyone on the ship, quick!" Sora yelled. The crew ran (or hobbled) onto the ship, and they were off within minutes.

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"DAMNIT!" A.K yelled as he stared at the departing ship.

A/N: Woo, this chapter's got 2000 words! Praise something, because that took a while!

To recap:

Captain: Sora

Pilots: Chip and Dale

Navigators: Chip, Dale and Myde

Doctors: House, Turk, Carla Dr. Cox and J.D

Cook: Kronk

Cleaning Staff: Janitor

Crew Members: Alison, Ranger, Kia, Arden, Skye, Donald, Goofy

I hope you like what I've done with your characters! If you have any questions, feel free to PM me! Just know that I won't tolerate any mentions of "Why's my character doing this?" or "Why's my character so weak?" I'm fitting them into the big picture of the story, and each has their own larger role in a certain world or two.

Sorry, just needed that off my chest.

May your swords stay sharp! WOO! 2000 WORDS!


	20. Chapter 19: Memories

Chapter 19: Memories

Mickey sat down across from Ven, "You really don't know anything about the Chasers, do you?" the small king asked.

Ven shook his head, "Please, tell me. I need to know who I can trust."

"The Chasers are an evil group of Keyblade hunters bent on retrieving all of them for themselves. Some even say that they're immortal, but I personally don't believe that. Now, can you summon your Keyblades?" Mickey asked.

Ven nodded and summoned a liquid silver blade and what looked like a conductor's baton. _T-1001_ and _76 Trombones_ floated through the two Keyblade Wielders minds.

Mickey summoned his Keyblade. "Attack me." He commanded.

_Flashback_

_The brown-haired man who had been in the desert with Ven and Aqua stared Ven down. "You're the new guy, huh? Alright then, attack me!"_

_End Flashback_

Ven ran at Mickey. The mouse leapt up, bounced off of a wall, and attacked Ven. With supernatural speed, the former Chaser snapped around and parried Mickey's attack, bringing 76 Trombones to the king's neck. "Dead." Ven remarked.

"You're pretty good, Ven. I suppose you haven't lost your fighting instincts, so I'll just have to fill you in on the history part of your past." Mickey said. With that, Kairi and Yuffie appeared out of the computer. "Just in time!" Mickey remarked.

"Just in time for what, Your Majesty?" Yuffie asked.

"Just in time to hear the history of the Keyblades. It all started a thousand years ago, when the Chasers first revealed themselves…"

_Flashback_

_Before the Chasers, the worlds were defended by valiant Keyblade Wielders, a proud and strong brotherhood, adored by the people and rewarded by the rich. One day No-Heart, the first Chaser appeared. He recruited several other Keyblade Wielders to his cause and began to sink the worlds into darkness one by one, taking the Keyblades of each world's wielder. Soon, he and his followers had hundreds of Keyblades, and they quickly gained new ones._

_The Conclave of Light was formed on the day the Chasers destroyed the last Keyblade Wielder. They split No-Heart into two parts, sticking them on opposite sides of the universe where they could supposedly never find each other. _

_The Chaser tradition continued on, the mysterious armored assassins destroying or corrupting Keyblade Wielders as they appeared on various worlds. No known members are active today._

_End Flashback_

"That's nice, your majesty, but what does this have to do with anything if there aren't any more Chasers doing their job?" Yuffie asked.

"There's more to it than that." Mickey told her.

_Flashback_

_The Keyblades captured by the Chasers were all located in the Field of Broken Locks. Three Chasers ritually guarded the blades. Fairly recently, the three betrayed the Chasers and took the most powerful Keyblades for themselves. However, this attracted the Shade of Xehanort. The three were nearly defeated, and one was killed. In the last moments of the battle, one valiant Chaser sealed the world in time and space, transporting the other two far away where Xehanort could not reach them._

_End Flashback_

"That's all I know. You'd have to ask a Chaser for any more information." Mickey resigned.

"Who were the three Chasers who were on that World, Your Majesty?" Kairi asked.

"Aqua and Terra are the two known names. The third remains a mystery, but he's dead now."

"No I'm not." Ven intoned. The other three turned to look at the former Chaser.

"Pardon?" Mickey asked.

"I'm the third one! I remember now! We were in the desert… we pulled Keyblades out of the ground… then that old guy came and beat us up… and I ended up with no memory in a metal tube while Aqua revived me!" Ven yelled.

"You really are? Tell me, what's become of the Chasers? Do you remember anything else?" Mickey enquired.

Ven shook his head, "All I can remember is the battle… but after I came to a whole bunch of Chasers barged in and took Aqua! They were lead by this one named Pyre… if that's any help." He stated.

"That helps… in a way… now we know we're still up against the Chasers… They're probably waiting for a moment to strike…" Mickey muttered.

"That moment's right now." Someone said from behind the mouse.

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Sora sat on his bed in the captain's quarters and sighed. The world had caught up to him an hour ago, and he realized how much he missed all of his friends. Strangely, he wasn't thinking about them at the moment, but rather about the day he had lost his father.

_Flashback_

_Sora sat in the leather passenger's seat next to his father. They were driving on an old two-lane mountain road. The sun was setting over the ocean below, and everything felt right with the world._

_As they drove, a black SUV drove up in front of them. "Look at that guy!" Sora's father exclaimed, "Let's tail him for a while, see if he goes back behind us."_

_Sora nodded and his father moved the front bumper of their car behind the back bumper of the SUV. They were cruising at a very high speed, but that was normal in this area. Suddenly the SUV pulled away, and Sora's father drove straight into a white compact car. Both cars flipped over, and the white car fell into the surf below._

_Sora stared at his father, "Dad?" he asked._

_"I'm here, Sora. Everything will be alright." His father reassured him. Suddenly there was a flash of light and a red sports car plowed through the driver's seat, knocking Sora's father's car into the water. Sora escaped, but his father was nowhere to be found. Sora's crown pendant was all that remained of his father._

_End Flashback_

"We're coming up on our first world, captain!" Donald squawked over the loudspeaker.

"Dad…" Sora muttered before heading towards the door.

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"Poor kid. I almost feel sorry for him." A man said as he looked at a video screen.

"Lord Aros?" a woman asked him.

"Oh well. I'll just turn him more subtly. Has the mole been placed on their ship?" Aros asked.

"Yes, lord." She replied.

"Good. Run as fast as you can, Sora, because the boogeyman's after you."

A/N: Yeah, weird chapter. This is going to be a long fic… there's a method to my madness, though.

Who can guess the original wielders of Ven's Keyblades? I might give out a prize…

Next chapter Sora starts traversing his first world!

May your swords stay sharp!


	21. Chapter 20: A New World

Chapter 20: A New World

The HMS Sora zipped through the air, but it stopped eventually. Sora looked around the massive bridge of the ship. "What happened?" he asked Chip and Dale.

"We're not moving… something about this world's stopping us from landing." Dale explained.

"Alright… I'll form a scouting party. Myde, Ranger, Skye and J.D come with me, the rest of you stay here and await further orders." Sora commanded.

"Sora, something's headed this way!" Chip warned.

There was a crackling noise and the door burst in. A woman in an Organization XIII cloak stood there, her entire body crackling with electricity. "Hey, Roxas!" Larxene chirped.

"L-Larxene?" Demyx asked before cowering behind Sora.

"Demyx. Or is it Myde now?" Larxene asked before turning to Sora, "Hello. Long time no see." She said to the confused hero.

"I've seen you before… yeah, you're Larxene! Your heart must be on this world!" Sora said.

"Figure that out all on your own, did you?" she asked sarcastically.

"Hey! I'm the captain here, and I say we get down there, get your heart and leave, okay?" Sora yelled.

"Not a problem." Larxene replied, shrugging.

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Aqua glanced around the room she was being kept in. A length of chain bound her to the wall, grinding across her metal armor with a loud screech whenever she moved. To make things worse, an ioun field was constantly projected through the room, preventing her from summoning her Keyblades. She bit her lip as another ioun wave rippled through the room, causing her body to convulse wildly in massive spasms, only to be slammed back into the wall by the chain. She heard the door open and looked up. "You." She snarled.

A.K stepped into the room, "Hey, Aqua. It's been a while."

"Go to hell, A.K." she hissed.

"That's not very nice. I actually came here to free you, but if you're really that bitter about what happened between us… I can leave you here." He turned towards the door when Aqua spoke up.

"You'd really… do that… for me?" she asked.

"I'm not a Nobody, Aqua. I have feelings. Ever since I rejoined all I've felt has been guilt… for everything I've done." He confessed, sighing.

"You rejoined? You worthless, lying pile of shit! You're the one who betrayed us!" she yelled.

"Took you that long, huh?" he asked before walking out of the room.

Aqua stared at the floor and a single tear fell, sliding across the waterproof tiles and draining into a small grate. "Ven, Where are you?" she quietly moaned.

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_A Day earlier, on the HMS Sora_

"Alex, stowing away on a ship is easy! We just find somewhere they won't look, get inside, and then get out once we're in the air!" Eric explained to Alex as they stood at the door between the Postern and the Bailey, staring at the ship below as Sora climbed aboard.

"Fine, Eric. But if they find us, it's your fault, and your fault only, okay?" she replied.

Eric saluted, "Yes, captain!" he glanced around, and then motioned for Alex to follow him. The two made their way to the ship and snuck inside as the door closed.

"Now what, genius?" Alex asked sarcastically.

Eric looked around, sizing up the hold. His gaze finally settled on an older model of a scouting ship parked next to a bigger, newer model. "We'll stay in the trunk of that ship. No one would look for us there." He assured her.

"You'd better be right about this." She warned him as the two climbed into the trunk and closed the door.

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The current day

Sora turned the key in the larger scouting ship several times, but nothing happened. "Man! Come on, you stupid hunk of metal!" he pounded the dashboard and the nose of the ship exploded. There was a long, uncomfortable silence as everyone stared at him, then his right eye twitch and he yelled out "Damn it!"

"It's okay, Sora. We'll just take the older ship." Skye reassured him.

"I guess you're right." Sora sighed. "C'mon, you guys." With that he opened the cockpit and walked over to the other scouting ship.

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Eric awoke to the sound of motors whirring. "Wha?" he asked groggily, rubbing his eyes. He snapped to full attention as the ship zipped forward. To his dismay, Alex also woke up.

"What did you do now?" she asked.

"I didn't do anything!" he exclaimed, looking for a latch to get out of the trunk. He soon found one. "Here we go!" he exclaimed before opening it. He realized he was thousands of feet in the air only before he fell towards the forest below.

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"Myde, the trunk's open. Go back and check it." Sora ordered.

"Yes, sir!" Myde replied, saluting. He crawled back through the ship and opened the trunk from the inside. He saw a young woman perched over the open trunk, her shouts drowned out by the rushing wind.

Suddenly the ship moaned and the rushing air tore the loose metal plating apart, sending the occupants falling rapidly.

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Sora came to slowly, the green forest around him slowly fading in as his eyes opened wider. He heard the sound of birds chirping in the distance, and there was water running nearby. It was strange, but he could almost smell the water, and the scent of everything around him was more vivid and fresh, which made the pile of dung he'd fallen in smell even worse. He tried to raise himself to his feet, but he found it extremely difficult. _I must've hurt my back or something._ He thought, _I'll get to the water and see if it's bleeding._

He made his way quickly to the water. For the few seconds of crawling, he almost felt as though he was a lion again, heading towards the Oasis to meet Simba He looked into the water and saw a cat face looking up at him. He scrambled backwards on his paws. _I have paws! This isn't the Pride Lands… where am I?_

A/N: Hey, folks! My reviews, as you have seen, are going to come around a little less frequently. The reason is none of your concern; just know that I'm still here and… yeah…

A cookie to anyone who can figure out what world they're on. Here's a hint: It comes from a popular book series and features cats as the main characters.

May your swords stay sharp!


	22. Chapter 21: Warriors

Chapter 21: Warriors

Sora glanced around the forest rapidly before trying out his new form. He found that his new form was exactly like his lion form. The only exception was his smaller size. He sighed and sat down by the river, staring at his new form. _Once they realized what happened, they'll come down here, I know it._ Sora thought to himself.

Suddenly there was a rustling noise in the bracken behind Sora. The Keyblade Wielder turned around and saw another cat behind him. The cat had fiery red fur and was, apparently, stalking him. Sora tried to summon his Keyblade, but found he couldn't. Instead, he unsheathed his claws and attacked. The stalker stayed put until Sora reached out, then ducked under Sora's claws and struck at the Keyblade Wielder with his hind legs, drawing long red gashes across Sora's chest.

"What are you doing?" Sora hissed.

"I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing on ThunderClan territory? You aren't a clan cat!" the strange cat replied.

"A what?" Sora asked, perplexed.

"A loner like you wouldn't understand. I'm going to be a warrior!" the cat announced proudly.

Sora blinked, "What do you mean 'be a warrior'? That isn't that much of a feat." He pointed out.

"I'll kill you for saying something like that!" the other cat hissed.

"What do we have here, kittypet?" an older cat meowed, walking proudly out of the forest.

"Oh, Tigerclaw. I found one of the loners that dropped from StarClan." The cat explained.

"Loners that fell from StarClan? What are you mewling about now, Firepaw?" Tigerclaw asked.

"It's true! Greypaw and I saw them! They fell right out of the sky! Greypaw left to find the other cats that dropped further towards the river, and I came this way. This one is the only one I've found so far." Firepaw explained.

"If that were true, why did you immediately attempt to kill him?" Tigerclaw asked.

"I thought he could be a threat to the Clan…" Firepaw moaned. Suddenly, another cat ran towards them and meowed something in Tigerclaw's ear.

"Okay, Darkstripe, I'll be right there. RiverClan is attacking SunningRocks. I have to go. Firepaw, prove you're not as useless and take these loners back to Bluestar." With that, the tabby cat left.

Firepaw turned to Sora, "Thanks a lot! Now no one will ever respect me. Why'd I have to be born a kittypet?" he sat down hopelessly.

"What's a kittypet?" Sora asked.

"A kittypet is a cat who is taken care of by Twolegs. All of the Clan cats hate them, and they hate me, too. I have to stay strong for my Clan, but they don't care about me. I don't know what to do. They think I'm worthless." He moaned.

"Firepaw, you're as valuable as any of the other cats, whether they know it or not. I need to find my friends now; can you take me to them?" Sora asked.

Firepaw looked up, "Of course I can! This way!" he bounded off into the forest he had come from.

"Here we go…" Sora muttered.

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The silver-furred cat looked up as Firepaw and Sora approached. He was standing next to two blue-tinged cats, a pitch-black cat, a white cat with a brown head, a darker silver-furred cat and a yellow-furred cat.

"Are these all of them?" the silver cat asked Sora.

"Yeah, plus one." Sora replied.

"It's okay, Sora. It's just Janitor." One of the blue cats assured him.

"We're all here." Myde added.

"Cool. Now, you said something about Bluestar. What's a Bluestar?" Sora asked Firepaw.

"She's our Clan leader." Firepaw replied.

"Cool. Let's go see her, then." Sora replied.

"This way." Firepaw directed, and the group followed him deeper into the forest.

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Sephiroth looked at his new body, "I'm a cat? What the hell?" he looked down the hill and saw a large swampy area. "I'll hide there, then I can continue searching for Mother." He resolved. The silver tabby bounded down towards the swamp.

Soon he came upon several other cats, "Halt! What are you doing here, loner?" one spat.

Without a word, Sephiroth leapt at them, killing three instantly, but leaving the youngest one alive. "Go back to wherever you come from. Tell them to clear out, because I'm going to live here now. If they get in my way, I will kill them, understood?" The young cat nodded rapidly, "Good. Out of my sight." Sephiroth snarled. The young cat scampered away, his tail held between his legs. Sephiroth walked away, his unnaturally long claws gleaming in the moonlight.

A/N: What will happen? So you all know, this world is from the Warriors book series by Erin Hunter. It won't follow the plot of the books, but I'll still have Brokenstar and Tigerclaw as enemies, so you needn't worry about any mangling.

Yes it was a short chapter, but I have an excuse. I've been working on an original fiction, the first chapter of which will soon be posted on FictionPress. I'm going to use the same penname there as I do here, so I'm still Flamberge.

Next chapter we'll see more of the situation in the Clan forest, and go through one of the more memorable sequences from Into the Wild. Later!

May your swords stay sharp.


	23. Chapter 22: ThunderClan

Chapter 22: ThunderClan

The ten new members of the Organization stood outside the Castle that Never Was. Their hoods were drawn up against the unnatural cold that had been infecting the World as of late. Admittedly, they couldn't feel anything, but their identities were to remain a secret until they met Sora.

"I wonder what Roxas will be like…" one of the four males pondered.

"I hope he's hot, cause I really wanna…" one female said before she was cut off by another of the males.

"You have no emotions. You don't 'want' anything." He said.

"Aww, loosen up, Naxis. You want to meet him, too." She pointed out.

"Silence, woman!" a short portly man yelled.

"Coming from you, Taxnas, that's a compliment. I am a succubus, after all." She retorted.

"Ixara, you just revealed our names! If anyone were listening to us…" Naxis warned her.

"Shut the hell up, the lot of you! I don't know about you, but you'll reveal all of our names if you keep arguing!" Another female exclaimed, the book she had been reading tearing itself apart as though it were committing suicide.

"You lost another one of my books. You're doing my chores tomorrow." The woman who had attacked Sora said.

"Exirak, you've seen him. What's he like?" Ixara asked.

"Not that great, come to think of it. He's kind of puny. I highly doubt that he could get twenty-three hearts on his own. I really don't think he could do much, come to think of it. Now if I had the Keyblade…" she pondered.

"What would you do if you had the Keyblade?" Naxis asked, exasperated.

"I'd get our hearts back easily. In fact, that's just what I'm going to do. If any of you want to join me, I'm off to kill the Keyblade master." She stood up, "Anyone at all?"

"I'll go!" Ixara yelled.

"I suppose I shall as well." Taxnas added.

If I don't have to do your chores, I'm in." the woman who had been reading stated.

Within a few minutes, all of the others had joined Exirak. They walked off towards Betwixt and Between, confident in their abilities.

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Sora followed Firepaw into the hollow in the forest, and was surprised by what he saw before him.

The hollow was lined with cats, more that Sora had seen in one place. Five completely different cats were performing various activities such as collecting food and teaching a couple of smaller cats how to fight. As Firepaw lead the heroes to a den on the opposite side of the camp, the other cats turned and stared. "Firepaw, they won't… hurt us, will they?" Sora asked nervously.

"Probably not, as long as you don't say anything." Firepaw hissed back.

"Are they really that…?" Sora began, but he was cut off as several other cats flooded the hollow. They were yowling and screeching, tackling other cats in their hurry. Soon they had plowed through the camp, and the place was in a sorry state.

"What in StarClan's name was that? Was that all of ShadowClan?" One of the cats yowled.

"Apparently." A female cat said, padding proudly out of the den Firepaw had been leading the heroes to.

"They led them here!" A cat slightly older that Sora yelled. The other cats gathered around, hissing and spitting. Firepaw and Greypaw backed away nervously.

"Enough of this!" the female cat yelled.

"Forgive me, Bluestar, but do you think that the whole of ShadowClan plowing though here was a coincidence? For StarClan's sake…" the hollow erupted into more violent jeers.

"JD, they want you." Janitor said in a creepy voice. JD nearly leapt into the air, his fur already on edge.

"Dammit, this isn't the time, Janitor." JD protested.

Janitor was about to say more, but Ranger nudged him, "I'll help you annoy him later, but right now we have bigger problems." He said.

Janitor turned around, red in the face, "Are you talkin' to me?" he asked in an accent Sora couldn't place.

"I was, now quiet. I've got some ideas on how to deal with him, just give it time. Wait for the opportune moment, as it were." Ranger pleaded.

"I once knew a guy who did the best pirates impressions before he got his voice sued out of him." Janitor said.

"How do you… never mind. Look, they're leaving!" he hissed.

"Wait for me!" Janitor said in a perfect imitation of Jack Sparrow, even though he was a cat. He ran off, and Ranger followed, shaking his head.

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"Maleficent, leave my Castle!" Xemnas yelled, barging into the meeting room. The rest of the Organization followed.

"Really like what you've done with the place. Admittedly, I prefer red, but that's just me." Axel added.

"Silence." Saïx commanded.

"Shut it, Mansex's lover." Axel snapped back.

"Superior, can I please just kill the insolent fool?" Saïx pleaded.

"Shush, Saïx. You know why we can't kill him." Xemnas hissed.

"Are you through?" Maleficent inquired.

"Umm… I think so." Axel answered. Saïx growled at him. "Lord, now he's gay for me, too!" Axel yelled mockingly. Suddenly a dark fireball hit the pyro in the chest, sending him across the room. He slowly stood up and growled, "Last mistake you ever make, bitch." He growled before summoning his chakrams and charging.

"Insolent Nobody!" Maleficent yelled, "Royalty or not I will make sure you return to Darkness!" She grinned maniacally and both the Darkside and the Twilight Thorn appeared in front of Axel.

Xemnas winced, "Attack!" he yelled, and the other eight members went into a charge, running towards the two enemies. Zexion started off by trapping the Darkside in his Book of Illusions before the rest of the Organization gathered around the Twilight Thorn and focused only a fraction of their power on it, saving the rest for battling Maleficent. Within moments their combined effort had reduced the Thorn to a broken die (courtesy of Luxord).

Xemnas turned to the witch, "Anything else you'd like to throw at us?" he asked.

"Now that you mention it… yes." She raised her hand and copies of the Organization members appeared. "Have fun!" she sneered before disappearing deeper into the Castle.

Xemnas and the rest of the Organization stared at the Clones. "Everyone, only fight your own copy. Don't risk hitting one of our own." Again, the Organization members leapt into battle, each fighting only the copy of themselves.

Xemnas leapt at his clone, his Arial Blades extended. The two clashed their blades in a shower of sparks and the real Xemnas jabbed his blades through the less skilled clone, causing it to vanish in a puff of darkness.

Xigbar shot his clone as it came, and that was the end of it.

Xaldin used a Jump attack on his clone, but it learned it and Jumped on him in return. He groaned and set his spears up into the deadly Wind Dragon. "Beware the face of despair!" he yelled before killing his clone for the sheer flavor of saying it.

Vexen froze his clone and dragged it off for experimenting.

Lexaeus stared calmly at his clone. His clone stared back just as calmly. He raised his tomahawk and his clone raised its tomahawk. He punched through the clone's stomach. The clone vanished into darkness.

Zexion looked at his clone and raised an eyebrow. His clone summoned its lexicon and attacked. Zexion stepped out of the way and his clone hit a wall and trapped itself within its own lexicon.

Saïx extended his Claymore and smashed it into his clone, killing it.

Axel ran at his clone, chakrams raised. The clone went into s defensive stance and blocked Axel's chakram attack. Suddenly Axel whipped his knee up into the clone's groin. It kneeled and Axel flipped back, kicking it in the face before whipping his foot down on the top of its head. He sunk his chakrams into it and the clone burned away.

Luxord sat at a table with his clone and beat it in a game of poker. He then turned it into a die and crushed it under his foot.

Marluxia whipped his scythe through his clone, cutting it in half.

Xemnas stared at the place where Maleficent had been standing. "Find the witch and kill her!" he yelled, and the rest of the Nobodies did so.

A/N: hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in a while but things happen, you know? Anyway, I'll most likely have the next update up within the week, but no promises.

May your swords stay sharp!


	24. Chapter 23: The Troubles of the Clans

Chapter 23: The Problems of the Clans

Sora entered Bluestar's den. It was fairly large, a stone hollow at the base of a rock, much like the hollow in the Pride Lands. His companions followed him in, Janitor glaring at Ranger, and vise versa. Myde was avoiding Larxene as though she was the plague, and Skye talked silently with J.D.

"Why are you here, loners?" Bluestar asked.

"We've been traveling for a while, and we just want a place to stay and to see if there's anything we can help with. You know, border disputes, cursed gold… frankly, we've seen a lot, and I'm pretty sure we can help if you have a problem, seeing as we've nothing else to do." Sora explained.

"Truly? If so, there is something we'd like you to help us with. Recently, we've had reason to be wary of ShadowClan and RiverClan. They are both causing harm to us, and we have need of new Warriors to protect against them. However, we're afraid, for our warrior ancestors seem to be abandoning us one by one." Bluestar replied.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"Let me show you." She insisted. The blue cat led Sora outside the den and pointed to the sky with her paw. A small cluster of stars shone in the midst of the black void. "Once, that was Silverpelt, the home of our warrior ancestors. It was much bigger then. Now, it has been reduced to the spirits of those who haven't given up on us. The clans are in turmoil."

Sora looked up. _The stars are disappearing? But that means… Oh no._

Before Sora could say anything the Clan erupted into motion. Sora saw that they were all moving towards the entrance, where a small black cat stumbled in. His fur was ruffled and he looked exhausted.

"What happened at Sunningrocks, Ravenpaw? Has the battle been won yet?" one cat asked.

Ravenpaw gulped, "Yes, we've won." The entirety of ThunderClan began to cheer. "Wait!" Raven paw exclaimed. The rest of the Clan quieted. "Redtail's dead. Oakheart killed him." The members of the Clan began to howl in anger and sadness.

"Then let's kill Oakheart!" one cat yowled. A few joined in.

"It's already been done." Tigerclaw said, slinking into the hollow. "I killed the pile of fox dung for what he did. Oakheart is no more."

The clan cats cheered, but Bluestar looked horrorstruck. She ran into her hollow without a word, leaving Sora to wonder what was happening to these poor cats.

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"Psst. Sora!" Skye hissed.

Sora turned to him. "What?"

"I talked to Firepaw and Greypaw. We can sleep in the apprentice's den tonight." The cat replied before slinking off. Sora smiled. Skye was really taking well to being a cat, and that was no joke.

Bluestar leapt up onto the rock that towered over the camp and let out a howl, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!"

The cats of ThunderClan approached cautiously, none knowing what their leader was about to say.

"Tonight we mourn the passing of Redtail, the former deputy of our clan. His spirit lives on in Starclan, and it is time to appoint a new deputy. I have chosen Tigerclaw as the new deputy, to lead us to peace with the other clans. That is all." She leapt down from the Highrock and walked back to her den.

"There's something I don't like about Tigerclaw. I can feel it in my gut." Sora muttered to himself. The apparition of Roxas appeared next to him, obviously unseen by the other cats.

"I don't like him either. What can we do, though? The whole clan really likes him." Roxas pointed out.

"Hey, if we talk to Ravenpaw, maybe we can figure out what's up with him. Ravenpaw is his apprentice after all." Sora replied.

"You do that. I'll keep an eye on Tigerclaw; see if he does anything odd." Roxas resolved.

"Can you be away from me for that long?" Sora asked.

"I can try." Roxas answered before floating off after Tigerclaw.

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Sora walked into the apprentice den and looked around for Ravenpaw. He saw the sleek black cat grooming himself in the far corner and Sora padded over to him. "Ravenpaw, right?" Sora asked the trembling cat.

"Who're you?" he asked, unsheathing his claws.

"I'm not here to hurt you. I want to talk about Tigerclaw. What's he like?" Sora asked the small cat.

"Well, he knows what he's doing, I guess. Why?" he asked.

"Something doesn't seem right about him, but I can't place it. I was wondering if you had any idea what it could be…" Sora lost himself in thought.

"Tigerclaw killed Redtail!" Ravenpaw yelped before covering his eyes with his paws.

"He what?" Sora exclaimed.

"He… he killed Redtail… then Oakheart died and… well…"

"Ravenpaw, you have to tell the others about this! I haven't been here long but I know that if that guy is put into a position of power, things here will go straight to hell. You have to tell somebody… Bluestar, maybe… or…"

"Tell her what?" Tigerclaw asked, marching into the room.

"Nothing, sir." Ravenpaw quickly replied. Sora nodded and made his way out of the den.

"Sora, I think it'd be wise to act like Ravenpaw. Saying the wrong things about the wrong cat can get you into a lot of trouble around here." Tigerclaw advised. Sora kept walking and turned as soon as he was outside, listening in on the conversation going on just inside.

"Why are you angry with me?" Ravenpaw asked.

"You saw what happened, didn't you? If you tell a soul…" Tigerclaw threatened before stalking out, oblivious of Sora. The Keyblade Wielder sighed and went back inside to sleep and reflect on all that was going on in this world.

A/N: Heh… another chapter down. I have the next few chapters planned out, so don't worry, because it's all covered!

May your swords stay sharp!


	25. Chapter X1: Chaser No 1

Chapter X1: Chaser No. 1

The Chaser looked at Destiny Islands sadly. "This time it ends." He muttered to himself as he summoned his Keyblade and gave it a twirl. "Water of the depths, obey me!" he shouted. Suddenly the water lowered itself by several feet, leaving docks washed up and beaches stretching more than they ever naturally should. Suddenly the ocean moved itself up in a massive tsunami at least 200 feet tall and spreading in a circle around the islands. The inhabitants of the islands scrambled for cover, but it was too late. The water rushed over the Imperial vacation world and all in it, or so it seemed.

A massive bubble appeared in the waves over the residence of Sora Smith, the boy who had the Keyblade. The Chaser grinned evilly and flew towards the house, his tattered cape flapping behind him.

He landed inside the bubble on the front lawn, savoring the dry air. He raised his Keyblade and walked inside the house, bursting open the front door as he walked. He looked around. The boy's room was on the second floor, so he walked briskly up, the wood of the stairs shriveling and dying as he walked. He unlocked the room and walked in, his eyes cataloguing the contents and layout of the area. He opened the desk drawers one by one, but didn't find anything.

Snarling he turned to the bed, but the object wasn't under the mattress either. "Damnit, where the hell is the stupid sword!" He opened the closet and searched through it until he found what he was looking for- Sora's old battered wooden sword. The Chaser tucked it away in an extradimensional storage space in his cape. He walked out of the room and scanned the hallway until he saw the boy's mother hiding behind a pot, holding a baseball bat.

He turned to her, "I know you're there, Em. It's me." He said.

She stood up and turned to him, "You're a Chaser. That man is dead, and he always will be!"

"If you say so." The Chaser said, pulling back his helmet.

"No! You aren't him! You can't be…" suddenly she broke down and started to sob.

The Chaser went over to her and wrapped his arms around her back. "I know it's a little hard to believe, but try?" he told her before snapping the sword and letting the water take the house.

A/N: Fear the power of the extremely short filler chapter! Well, it isn't really filler, not by a long shot. Still, it was very short. Not even… five hundred words. Wow. Next update will be soon, worry not!


	26. Chapter X2

Chapter X2: Pyre

The flame-haired ex-Chaser sat on the top of the clock tower in Neverland, his helmet down. He sighed, his breath forming a small white cloud in the winter air. He'd lost his position in the Chasers to that stupid A.K, and now he had nowhere to go. He stood up, his feet balanced perfectly on the tip of the tower. Below him, the people went about their daily lives, busily shopping for the impending Christmas holiday.

"Wind of the storm, obey me!" He yelled. The wind picked up quickly, tossing his hair up into long spikes. He twirled his finger in circles and several massive tornados began to whip up around the city, lifting the people into the air and sending them flying. Pyre reached up and grabbed an errant car by the bumper and swung it into a vortex, watching it get torn to shreds with glee.

"Pyre." Another Chaser stated from behind the crazed man.

Pyre turned around, "Yes?" he asked.

"You're needed at the High Council." The other man replied.

"Tell those half-witted megalomaniacs that I want nothing to do with the Chasers. As of now… I'm utterly alone in everything." Pyre said, and flames were added to the already deadly windstorm.

"What if it meant getting your old title back? What if you could help us win the war this time?" the Chaser asked.

The wind and flames died down at once, "Really?" Pyre asked.

"Certainly. Just come with me, and you can go on with your life as though A.K never happened, hmm?"

"I… will…" Pyre said, walking up to the other Chaser.

"Come, then." With that, the other Chaser walked through a tear in time and space, and Pyre followed, wondering what exactly was going on.

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Pyre stood in front of nine Chasers, each dressed in shining golden armor. Three were female, and the other six were male. All of their helmets were closed.

"Pyre, it is time you realized your full potential. You are… special. If you are lost to us, we will lose the Keyblade War! You and A.K are the only ones who can touch the boy as of yet, so we need you to go exterminate him. Nothing flashy, but when he leaves the world he is currently residing on, you will kill him in his sleep. Do this, and the position of General is yours." One of the male Chasers explained.

"Yeah… I'll do it." He turned to leave and one of the High Council members stopped him.

"Pyre… we're counting on you." She reminded him.

"Whatever."

A/N: Betcha you were expecting an actual chapter, huh? Unfortunately, I have fallen to the terror known as school… my freshman year of High School, to be precise. As such, I will not update often, but I will soon begin posting real 1000-2000 word chapters soon.

May your swords stay sharp!


	27. Chapter 24: Saving Ravenpaw

Chapter 24: Saving Ravenpaw

Sora woke up the next morning to see Ravenpaw visibly shaking in the corner of the den. "Ravenpaw, did you sleep at all last night?" he asked. Ravenpaw shook his head vigorously. Sora sighed and stretched out as he stood up, then shook bits of dirt and moss off his pelt.

"Sora, what am I going to do? Tigerclaw's gonna kill me if he finds out that I told you about the battle." Ravenpaw moaned.

"He's not gonna find out. I'm going to get you out of here, okay?" Sora reassured the apprentice.

"You'd do that… for me?" Ravenpaw asked.

"Of course. I'll get everyone else and we'll move out as soon as we're all ready, okay? Hang in there." And without further ado, Sora left the den.

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"Oh shitshitshit!" Eric moaned.

Alex glared at him, "'Oh shitshitshit' what?" she asked, venom laced in her voice.

"Oh shitshitshit this!" he pointed towards his shoe, where he had stepped in what looked to be cat dung.

"Weird, there shouldn't be cats out here." Alex said suspiciously.

"There were, before I drove them out." Said a voice from behind the two.

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Sora and the others led Ravenpaw through the underbrush. The young paniked cat was still shaking as they reached the WindClan border. "Here we are." Announced Sora as the group reached a clearing with four large trees. The scents of all four Clans were strong here.

"This is where the Gatherings are held. It's funny, though, there's more ShadowClan in the air. Weird, huh?" Firepaw remarked.

"You guys, smell over here! You can't tell where WindClan begins and ShadowClan ends. If I didn't know better, I'd say ShadowClan cats are living in WindClan territory." Greypaw announced.

"And who's to say we aren't?" another cats asked. Suddenly, it seemed the whole of ShadowClan was in the little clearing. They spent some time yowling and kissing, until suddenly the howling stopped. All but Sora were frozen in time, their faces fixed in mid-scowl.

(Commence humming "One-Winged Angel," over)

"Greetings, Sora." Said a familiar voice. Sora turned around to see Sephiroth, in human form, holding the two teens Sora had seen at the Alchemist's Guild in Hollow Bastion.

"Sephiroth!" Sora yelled, summoning his Keyblade.

"Ah, you wouldn't want to hurt innocents, would you?" the One-Winged Angel asked. Suddenly his body convulsed sharply, and one of his hands formed into a tendril of Darkness before reverting to a hand.

Sora grimaced as he saw what had become of Sephiroth. The silver-haired man's skin was transparent, and darkness writhed inside him. His muscles were convulsing wildly, but he held onto Alex and Eric. His outfit looked worn and dusty, with tears in the leather here and there, revealing more darkness-tainted skin.

"Ah, I see you are… still… a cat." Sephiroth slowly said as he held his side, where darkness was leaking out slowly. "Let me… help you… with that." The man raised his hand and Sora screamed in pain as he reverted to human form.

"What's the big idea, Sephiroth? Let them go!" Sora yelled, summoning the Kingdom Key.

"That Keyblade is… worthless… take this one." Sephiroth tossed Sora the keychain for Fenrir and Sora attached it to his Keyblade.

"If you don't let them go…" Sora warned the Angel.

"Alright, I'll let them go." Sephiroth assured Sora. He threw the two stowaways into the air and they stayed there, trapped in a bubble of dark energy.

Sora ran at Sephiroth, Keyblade in his hand. Sephiroth extended his hand and several blobs of darkness dislodged from his palm and pinned Sora's arms and legs to a tree. Grinning, Sephiroth floated up into the air and summoned his sword in a flash of darkness. "Descend, Heartless Angel." He commanded, and Sora felt himself instantly weakened. Sephiroth floated down and placed his sword on Sora's neck. "All I have to do is push this a little to the side and you die. Any last words?"

Suddenly Sephiroth convulsed and stepped a few paces back, clutching his chest. Hundreds of dark tentacles whipped out and began to beat the ground around the Angel. Sephiroth moaned and cut them all of with his sword. The tendrils gathered together and formed a small black orb that glinted softly. "It can't be…" Sephiroth said in awe "The Black Materia?" he picked it up and absorbed it into himself. Suddenly he was absorbed in a chrysalis of solidified darkness.

The bonds holding Sora down released and he cast Curaga before charging at Sephiroth. "You bastard!" he yelled as he repeatedly struck at the cocoon.

"This will be the last you see of this world. It will soon be forever lost. And so it goes. METEOR!" There was a flash of darkness and Sephiroth was gone. Sora looked into the sky to see where he had gone and he saw a giant meteor falling. That was when he realized that time had started again. He was now standing in a clearing with a group of people and three frightened cats.

There was a stunned silence shared among the group, and then the cats ran off further into the woods. Sora groaned and motioned for the others to follow him. They all did, albeit in a stunned silence.

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Sora and the others caught up to Firepaw, Ravenpaw and Greypaw near a barn by the mountains. The group snuck around the four cats and left them to their conversation.

"You know, if we get on top of the mountains, we should be able to get a signal from the ship." Skye pointed out.

"Good call, Skye. Let's move." Sora said.

"Those mountains are pretty steep. We could fall and fracture our skulls, or any one of… well, a whole lot of things. Speaking as the group doctor, I'm strongly against this." J.D. said.

"Speaking as his second opinion, I think we should get out of here before the meteor hits." Janitor replied. In a split second, he had changed into a doctor's coat and glasses.

"How do you do that?" J.D. asked in bewilderment.

"I spent fifty years of my life in musical theatre. I was known among my company as… The Singing Janitor." Janitor answered. "I was voted best Baritone on Broadway one year. But the times changed. Our company lost money and-"

"What happened to 'get out of here before the meteor hits?'?" Sora asked.

"Lad, you are right! Gentlemen, we fly!" Janitor yelled and they all ran towards the peaks.

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As the group approached the mountain, Sora noticed a small, well, used passageway in the side. "You guys head up the mountain, I'm going to take a look in here."

"Heck no. If anyone's going exploring, it's me. I don't have my heart yet!" Larxene yelled before crawling in herself. Myde was about to follow her when Ranger stopped him.

"She has to find her own path." He said. "And I need to find mine back to the ship. God only knows what Alison is doing up there…" small grey bolts danced around his fingers until he clenched his fists and stopped the energy.

"Let's move, people." Sora gently reminded them. The meteor was getting much closer, and bits of it were hitting the forest below.

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In the ship above, Chip and Dale were desperately searching for any trace of the scouting party. Suddenly a very weak signal appeared under the meteor. "We found them!" Dale exclaimed.

They brought the ship under the meteor and essentially sliced off the top of the mountain before zooming away.

A/N: Well, I suppose that's that. The first world is finished. After one more Sora chapter, I'll show what Kairi and Yuffie have been doing all this time. I also think I might actually give Sora a summon like I said I'd do a while ago.

May your swords stay sharp!


	28. Chapter 25: The End of A World

Chapter 25: The End of a World

Sora looked down in horror as the Clan Forest was hit by Sephiroth's spell. The world fractured like glass and then, unable to withstand the attack, shattered. The pieces that were left became a small dust cloud, floating forever in the solitude of interspace.

"Well… that sucked." Skye pointed out.

"They're back! Sora heard Donald yell. Suddenly the somber teen was tackled by both Donald and Goofy.

"I missed you guys!" Sora yelled.

"Forgive me for not jumping for joy." House said sarcastically.

"What the hell is the top of a mountain doing here?" Doctor Cox asked, "You had something to do with this, didn't you, newbie?" he asked J.D.

"Doctor Cox! I knew you'd be glad to see me!" J.D. squealed, running up to his mentor. Doctor Cox stepped nimbly out of the way and J.D. crashed straight into Janitor, who whacked him into the mountain with House's spare cane.

"I like you." House said, walking (er… hobbling) up to Janitor. "What's your name?" he asked. Janitor was about to respond when House spoke again, "Wait! You're the clean-up crew, that's right! No offence but… we can't be seen together." House pretended to look warily around the room, and then hobbled off once again, laughing to himself.

Janitor stared after the other man, blinked once, and then turned to J.D. "You will pay for this.

"What?" J.D. asked groggily as he regained consciousness from the last time Janitor had hit him.

Sora and the rest of the group winced as several thumps and squeals of pain came from the base of the tip of the mountain.

"RANGY!" Alison squealed as she ran towards the poor bodyguard and hugged him, knocking him to the ground. "Get up, silly!" she squealed.

"Wait… you only squeal when… oh god…" Ranger leapt to his feet, "Who gave her sugar?" he demanded.

"Gawrsh… I did. I mean, she said she wanted dessert, so I got it for her from the top shelf and gave her a cookie." Goofy said innocently.

"Ignoring the signs saying 'do not give to Alison under any circumstance'?" ranger retorted, tapping one foot on the floor.

"Rangy why is it so bad that I had a cookie I can have a cookie if I want you know what you're a big meany and I don't want to hang with you anymore I'm gonna go tell Grandpa all about this and you'll be sorry." She said, all in one breath.

"Oh, okay." Ranger said and she left, "Wait, WHAT?" he asked and ran after her, his arms flailing in the air.

"Wonder why he's so scared of her grandpa?" Sora asked.

"Hey Sora, check this out!" Skye yelled from the top of the mountain. Sora ran over to him.

Skye was standing over a hole. Below the hole lay the shattered remains of a large crystal of some sort. In the middle of the shards lay a battered and cut Larxene.

"Who's got some explosives?" Sora asked.

"I think Ranger had some grenades." Skye said slowly.

"Really? Great. Myde, go get him! Bring him and Alison back here! And get House!" Sora yelled, nervously tapping the rocks. He had seen one thing that made him worry more than anything else.

Larxene had been stabbed by a shard of the crystal right where her heart would be.

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Pyre zipped through the Eternity on his motorbike. "God what I wouldn't give to have a real job right now. Hunting a kid just… doesn't feel right. Even if he is one of them… god I need a drink. Bike, beer!" he yelled. A small glass bottle appeared in the middle of the dashboard. Pyre picked it up, set it on fire and threw it into the Deep Jungle. "Much better." He said as he hurried to find Sora the second the young Keyblade wielder's ship existed the Clan Forest atmosphere.

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Sora stood on the observation deck as he watched House examine Larxene. The doctor was mumbling about how much better his job before had been.

House turned to Sora, "You wouldn't happen to have a whiteboard handy, would you?" he asked. Sora shook his head and House went back to work, grumbling all the while.

"We're now exiting the Clan Forest atmosphere!" Chip announced.

"Strap yourselves in!" Dale added.

Sora held onto the railing rather than sitting in one of the seats, which overall turned out to be a good move. There was some mild shaking and Sora steadied himself. Suddenly there was a crashing noise behind him. He turned to see a man in jet black armor getting off of a motorcycle that Sora knew hadn't been there a second ago.

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Pyre dismounted and looked at Sora. He sealed the room off with a thought and summoned his personal favorite Keyblade, Storm Seeker. It had a blade that looked like a thunderbolt, with a bit at the end that looked like a cloud. The hilt looked like three tornados fusing into one. The keychain was a storm cloud on a yellow chain.

Sora summoned Fenrir, "Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is not important. All you need to know is that I will kill you, and there will be no mercy. Now attack me, Lost One, and prepare to die.

A/N: Pretty cool, huh? And yes there is a chapter before this, so if you're just now reading this, please go back and look at that first. Next chapter is Kairi and Yuffie, 'kay?

May your swords stay sharp!


	29. Chapter 26: With the Ladies

Chapter 26: Back with the Girls

Mickey turned and saw several Chasers behind him, their metal armor glinting in the moonlight. The one in front was a slim man, with two heavily built men behind him. Three female Chasers stood behind the rest.

"Hand over the traitor and the princess and no one gets hurt." The man in front said. His voice was smooth and silky, his armor shined to the point where Kairi and Yuffie could see their reflections in it.

"No way!" Ven yelled, summoning his two Keyblades and running towards the lead Chaser. The thin man stepped to the side and Ven was grabbed by the two burly ones. "Let me go, you bastards!" he yelled, thrashing wildly about in their iron grip.

"Yes, and miss Kairi, if you would please join us, it would be most appreciated." He said, looking at his wrist, "We are running very short on time, so please hurry." He sharply said.

Suddenly Morgan, Riz and Slent ran in. Morgan held two spears; Riz held a large machine gun and Slent held a metal rod that looked like an upside-down baseball bat. "What the hell is taking you guys so… oh." Morgan said.

"Meh. Loading Darkium Alloy bullets." Riz calmly informed the Chasers. Suddenly they weren't quite as calm as they had been.

"There's… no need for that, miss. Please, let's settle this in a rational and calm matter. Put the gun down." The lead man said, holding his hands up in the air.

"To hell with rationality! If I learned one thing, it's to never trust a Chaser." Riz said, her black hair flipping away from her eye.

"What do you want, miss…" the lead Chaser asked.

"Riz." She said.

"Riz, yes. So what do you want?" he asked.

"I want you to leave them alone. They've faced too much, the last thing they need is more of you hanging around. And let go of Ven, he never did anything to you." Riz demanded.

"As you wish… Riz." The lead Chaser said. He motioned and the burly men released their death grip. Ven joined the others and they went to the other side of the room, where Riz, Morgan and Slent stood.

The head Chaser teleported away along with the females, but Riz loosed a round into the large Chasers. The Darkium bullets tore through their armor like softened butter and they crashed to the ground, blood leaking out around them.

"Are you all right, your majesties?" Morgan asked, looking at Mickey and Kairi.

"Hey, I'm here too!" Yuffie yelled.

"Yeah, that's nice for you." Morgan said, waving his hand over his shoulder.

Meanwhile, Riz stared at Ven. "I hate you so much." She said.

"Do I know you?" Ven asked, genuinely confused.

"Hah. Yeah, that's real cute. After what you pulled…" Riz threatened him, holding the barrel of the gun up to his face.

"I don't know you. Frankly, I don't really know anyone right now. I have… amnesia. I think. But if you could tell me who I am, I'd really appreciate it!" he said, grinning.

"You son of a whore, just go to hell." She said before walking off.

"Riz, I think he's telling the truth." Morgan said.

"Morgan, that son of a bitch couldn't tell the truth if he wanted to. And to think he used to tell me bedtime stories.

"I what? Why was I telling you bedtime stories? Were we friends, or what? C'mon, please tell me!" Ven yelled.

"We were friends… but not anymore." She muttered, "I'll bring the ship over." With that she walked through the door.

"Ven, you'll have to forgive her. I mean, when you died…" Morgan trailed off.

"Wait, I died? How? When? Who killed me?" Ven asked.

"Drop the act, man." Morgan said.

"What act?" Ven said, now even more perplexed. Morgan just shook his head and walked away. Slent followed him.

"You really do have a way with people, don't you?" Yuffie asked Ven.

"I just… don't get it. I really don't." Ven replied, closing his eyes.

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"This is no time for games, Sylar! Where is Pete?" Maleficent asked.

"And if I actually knew?" he answered coolly.

"My response would depend on your answer." Maleficent hissed through gritted teeth.

"Okay, then. The oaf's dead. Happy now?" Sylar asked

"How did he die?" Maleficent asked suspiciopusly. She was sitting at a small table and Sylar was in a recliner off to the side.

"How do you think? He didn't go well, if that's what you mean." Sylar told her.

"You wouldn't happen to have killed him, would you?" she asked, menace making her voice sickly sweet.

"Killed him? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what happened." He replied, nodding.

"Why did you kill him?" she asked.

"You know, I hate awkward conversation." He said, standing up. He pointed a finger at Maleficent, "Let's make this easy."

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Yuffie stared at Kairi and Mickey. "It's not fair! I'm not special enough, huh? Fine then!" she threw down her shuriken. "I quit this stupid quest! I don't get any appreciation, so I've no reason to by here!" the ninja girl huffed, crossing her arms and turning away from the others. Without warning, she suddenly fainted and collapsed to the ground. The other three ran over as quick as they could, but Yuffie was out cold.

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Yuffie stood on a large stained-glass window. After a few seconds several Heartless appeared, Shadows and Soldiers alike. "You guys… this isn't funny! Guys? Guys?"

"Do not be afraid of the Darkness, Yuffie." A voice said.

"You know, it's a little hard without a weapon." She replied.

"In order to protect those you love, you must utilize the powers of not one, but two Keyblades." Suddenly, Grand Shuriken and a new Keyblade, _Materia Flower, _floated down. The two crossed over each other into roughly the shape of Yuffie's normal shuriken and landed in her hand. She used it to tear through the Heartless efficiently and quickly.

"Yuffie likes." She said in awe.

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Yuffie later woke up in the hold of Morgan's ship. "Aww, dammit! It was all a frickin' dream?" she yelled. Suddenly her Keyblade shuriken appeared in her hand. She looked up from the bed and said to no one in particular, "Yuffie likes."

A/N: That's all for today, fans! Until next time…

Se onr sverdar sitja hvass!


	30. Chapter 27: The Land of Mutants

Chapter 27: The World of Mutants

Yuffie stood up as she got out of the sick bay bed and stretched, yawning broadly. She changed her clothes and quietly moved towards the bridge.

It took her some time to realize that she was lost. She walked around the ship, but wherever she went, she couldn't remember how to get to the bridge. Finally she fond a set of stairs and went up them

She ended up in a room she hadn't seen before. As she walked in, neon green lines began to pulse on the walls. When Yuffie looked closely, she saw darker blue runes moving among the lines. The lines began to pulse faster and faster until they were all illuminated. A red circle gleamed on the ceiling and a white line trailed down from it. The line grew broader and a shadowy figure appeared in it. There was a bright flash of light and when Yuffie stopped seeing spots, a man was standing there.

He was fairly tall, and of medium build. His hair was a tussled jet-black mess. His eyes were cold and ice blue, with no pupils. His skin was pale, with green lines running through it. On the back of his left hand he had a replica of the strange circle that had been on the ceiling. He wore a loose-fitting black robe with several holes in the fabric.

"Hmm… wha…?" he asked.

"Who are you?" Yuffie asked.

"Puck." He replied warily.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Puck." She said.

"What the hell do you think I am? I know you aren't going to hurt me! I bet you probably couldn't even touch me." He said haughtily.

"You son of a bitch, I'll…" Yuffie threatened, but Puck motioned with his hands and she suddenly felt as though the air around he had hardened, and she struggled to move, but found that she couldn't.

"Threats don't work on me, Miss Kisaragi. I also don't take kindly to people who try to threaten me. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" he asked sharply.

"To hell with you. What so you want, anyway?" Yuffie asked, summoning her Keyblades.

Puck smiled. "Do you know what happens to someone who frees me?" he asked.

Yuffie glanced around, "What?" she asked.

They owe me their life for not killing them. That makes them my slave." He explained.

"The hell with that! I'm not your slave! If anything, you're my slave!" Yuffie yelled.

Puck sighed and sagged a little, "It's always worth a shot to try to get out of slavery. What do you want me to do?"

"Wait, you're my slave?" Yuffie asked.

"You freed me, didn't you?" he asked.

Yuffie grinned devilishly, "Follow me, then." She said, and the two walked out of the room.

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"Where's Yuffie?" Kairi asked Morgan as she entered the bridge, "I went down the ladder over her bed, but she wasn't there."

"Did you check the garbage?" Slent asked, "Honestly, she's dumb as a blonde. Why do you hang out with her?" he asked.

"She's my friend, you lazy-ass." Kairi huffed.

"All right, don't get your panties in a twist. I'll check the friggin' cameras." He said, putting his hands up and heading over to a screen on the other side of the bridge. "Look's like… she's in the mess hall."

Kairi ran over to the ladder and ran to the mess hall. There she saw Yuffie, along with some strange guy. The guy was making a sandwich. He then passed it to Yuffie.

"Good, Puck. Now go get me a glass of milk." Yuffie ordered him. The man sighed and took the milk from the fridge.

"Yuffie?" Kairi asked.

"Mph? Oh, hey Kairi." She said, swallowing a bite of the sandwich.

"Who's that guy?" Kairi asked, looking at Puck suspiciously as he placed a glass of milk in front of Yuffie.

"He's my slave." Yuffie said nonchalantly.

"Your what?" Kairi asked.

"My slave. I freed him from the weird chamber over there, and he's my slave now." She replied, taking another bite of the sandwich.

"This ship is really weird." Kairi said.

"Attention, all passengers! We're about to land on a new world; please stand by while we enter the atmosphere." Morgan announced over the loudspeaker. Kairi, Yuffie and Puck sat down as the ship rocked from side to side. They only stood up once it had landed.

Mickey walked into the room, "Yuffie, who's that guy?" he asked, pointing to Puck.

Yuffie sighed. "How many times do I have to explain this? He's my slave. I freed him from some magic prison and now he does whatever I want him to. For example- Puck, roll over." She said.

Kairi and Mickey looked and Puck did roll over, albeit with much grumbling.

Morgan walked in as well. "Who's he?" he asked, pointing to Puck.

"My name is Puck. I'm from a place a long way away from here, and I was saved by this… girl." He explained.

"Where's Ven?" Kairi asked.

"I don't know. Go ask Riz." Morgan said.

"Ask me what?" Riz said as she and Slent entered the room.

"Who's he?" Slent asked.

"I think it would be better if you just didn't ask." Yuffie told him.

"What did you want to ask me?" Riz asked.

"Where's Ven?" Kairi asked.

"I think he's with the luggage." Riz replied, jerking her finger over her shoulder. Kairi sighed and ran out of the room.

"Well, you three, adios. I hope to see you again some time, but for now, we have to get out of here or Riz'll go ballistic. Trust me, you don't want that. If you need up, though, just call." He threw a remote with one red button to Mickey. "The signal only works in some places though, so be careful where you get stuck."

"How can we ever repay you?" Mickey asked.

"Mouse-man, don't worry about it. We understand the need to save the worlds, and we're glad to help." Slent said, smiling.

"Hey, you guys! Ven's stuck in a luggage storage container! Give me a hand!" Kairi yelled.

Everyone stared at Riz, who put her hands in the air, "I didn't do it." She said indignantly.

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Soon, Mickey, Ven, Kairi, Yuffie and Puck were alone in the middle of the snow, with Morgan's ship zipping out of sight.

"What do we do now?" Kairi asked.

"Well, the first thing, I suppose, would be to find civilization. We can move from there, but I'm hungry." Mickey said. The group walked forward until they came to a fork in the road.

There was a ripping sound in the air, and a large group of Heartless appeared. Everyone but Puck pulled out a weapon. Puck instead made gestures with his hands and a beam of light containing all the colors of the rainbow flew out. It split into several parts and hit the individual Heartless, vaporizing most of them.

Kairi looked at Yuffie and realized that she had a Keyblade. "Yuffie, when did you get a Keyblade… shuriken… thing?" she asked.

"See, not so special now, are you?" She asked, sticking her tongue out. More Heartless appeared, and the group went to work fighting them. Once they were all gone, the five realized they still had to find which way to go, and if there were Heartless here, they would have to hurry.

"We should ask for directions." Yuffie pointed out.

"Thank you so much, Madame Yuffie. Where do we start?" Kairi asked.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Yuffie asked.

"I don't know." Kairi said. It seems like I've been away from Sora and Riku for so long. I know it's only been a few days, but I have this gut feeling that I'll never see them again."

"Wait, did you say Riku?" Ven asked.

"Yeah, what about him?" Kairi asked.

"I met a guy named Riku once. It was a long time ago, before I became a Chaser. He was a really nice guy. I can't remember… he was looking for something… anyway, where were we?"

"I was saying that we need to ask for directions." Yuffie said. "Puck, ask for directions."

"Sure thing, Miss Kisaragi." He said, saluting. He walked over to one of the maple trees and performed more hand gestures. "How do we get to civilization?" he asked it." There was a pause. "Okay, thanks." He said. "We go to the right." He told the others.

"The tree told you that?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah. Magic can do a lot of things." Puck replied.

"Puck, tell me the truth. Did you talk to the tree?" Yuffie asked.

"Yes, I did." Puck replied.

"That's good enough for me, gang." Yuffie said before walking off to the right. Puck followed her. Ven followed after, then Kairi and Mickey sighed and ran off after them.

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The group was running when Yuffie slammed head-on into another girl who was walking out of the trees. The other girl was bundled up from head do toe, and no skin was showing.

"Here, let me help you up." Yuffie said, holding out her hand.

"No. I can't take the risk of someone touching me." The girl said.

"I'm straight." Yuffie said, recoiling.

"Not like that. I can't risk anyone touching my skin. Bad things happen to people who do." She replied, standing up and brushing snow off herself.

"Who are you?" Kairi asked.

"I'm… Rogue." The girl replied.

"Hello, Rogue. Why don't you come with us? I'm assuming you're going into the bar, so come on." Ven said.

"Alright, I guess." She said. The six walked into the bar, not knowing what they would find there.

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Inside the bar, they were stopped by a crowd that was hovering around what appeared to be a cage. Inside, they saw two men. One had a wrestling outfit on, and the other had jeans and a set of dog tags on. The man in the jeans was taking heavy blows, and he didn't seem to care. However, as soon as the other fighter started to tire, he whipped out and knocked his opponent out.

"And the winner is… the Wolverine!"

A/N: And so another world begins. All fear Puck! Hahahahaha!

May your swords stay sharp!


	31. Chapter 28: Xavier's School

Chapter 28: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters

After watching the Wolverine win Kairi, Mickey, Yuffie, Ven and Rogue continued on into the bar while Puck stayed in the Fight Club-like area. The bar was nearly empty, with only a plump bartender sitting behind the counter and The Wolverine sitting at the counter sipping solemnly from a beer bottle. Upon closer observation, three more figures sat further down the bar, each clothed in a matching trenchcoat and fedora. Three goons were also lounging about at a table, one of whom was the fighter The Wolverine had trounced in the cage.

"Do you mind if we sit by you?" Rogue asked. Wolverine responded with a rough grunt. The group took this as a yes and sat down.

Behind The Wolverine, the three thugs from before walked up. One was about to punch him from behind when Rogue and Kairi yelled "Watch out!" simultaneously.

The Wolverine (or Wolverine, as we'll call him) whipped around and punched the man back, dodging the blow aimed at him. He disarmed his former opponent's two cronies before extending a set of metal claws from somewhere in his hands and killing them. The opponent put his hands up in the air and there was the sound of a gun loading from behind the two; the bartender had pulled out a shotgun. "Get the hell out, the lot of you." He snarled. However, being a fat bartender with a balding head, he didn't exactly strike fear into the two fighters.

"You have to come in here, this little guy's creaming everyone in the cage!" a ma yelled as he ran out from the fight club. Itching for an excuse to leave the room, Kairi, Yuffie, Ven and Mickey excused themselves, Rogue and Wolverine quickly following.

In the arena, several unconscious fighters littered the floor. Three burly bikers complete with "Hell's Angels" jackets stood in the center, their fists up. One even had brass knuckles on, but no one seemed to care.

Standing on one side of the cage was Puck, still in the loose white robe Yuffie had found him in, though it was a great deal wetter and stained red. His knuckles were skinned, but he was smiling and waving cheerfully to the crowd of cheering fans. The referee signaled for the match to begin, and the bikers leapt into action. They attacked Puck with all they had, but the short man dodged every blow with unnatural speed. After the bikers had tired, he struck.

When the first biker threw a hook punch at him, Puck blocked it and whipped two fingers into the man's windpipe, choking him. The biker stumbled towards the edge of the cage, gasping for air he thought he didn't have.

Puck dealt with the second and third bikers with something especially attention-grabbing: he flipped up to the top of the cage. He came down a few seconds later, turned and kicked the two bikers into the sides of the cage. One hit the already weakened biker, knocking them both down.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the winner is… PUCK!" the announcer yelled and the crowd went wild.

"Son of a bitch." Wolverine muttered before jumping into the ring.

"Wolverine! He's on our side!" Kairi yelled. However, Wolverine didn't listen. He took his shirt off and, before the announcer or Puck could get a word in edgewise, lashed out at Puck's head with his fist. The other man ducked under the blow and grabbed Wolverine's arm before flipping the other fighter over his back. Wolverine hit the wall of the cage and hit his head on the floor as he fell. He stood up nonetheless and attacked Puck with renewed vigor.

"I don't want to fight you." Puck warned Wolverine.

"Too late." Wolverine replied as he threw punch after punch.

Puck just sighed and rammed his knee into Wolverine's chest. Puck whispered something into Wolverine's ear and the man visibly paled. Puck stood up. "Your choice, Wolverine.

Wolverine snarled, "I… surrender." He said. The announcer rushed in and began to congratulate Puck while Wolverine stood silent before walking out of the building.

"That's it. Puck, get over here!" Yuffie yelled.

Puck complied and ducked out of the crowd of fans, "Yes, Miss Kisaragi?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

"We're getting the hell out of here, so come on!" she yelled over the roar of the crowd as they rushed to find another set of opponents.

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Wolverine got into his mobile home and started driving. He supposed it didn't matter where; he was a loner, wandering the frozen wastes of wintertime Canada. _A Wolverine._ He thought, sighing. Suddenly he realized that there was a lot of extra weight in his house. He pulled over on the side of the road and moved around to the back, where the trailer was attached. The storage device was covered in a tarp, but it otherwise seemed fine. He moved over to it and pulled off the cover.

The five people who had been at the bar next to him were packed tightly inside. He couldn't see anyone else, which was strange- he had thought that the other fighter had been with them. "The hell you doing in my trailer? And how'd you manage to fit?" he asked as the five began to maneuver themselves out of the tight space and stretch.

"It wasn't my idea." Ven assured Wolverine.

"Oh yeah? Then whose idea was it, huh? Why don't I just leave you out here? It's a long way to anywhere." Wolverine snarled. Suddenly his ears and nose literally pricked up. "Someone's coming." He warned them before an enormous man in a heavy fur jacket slammed into Wolverine, sending both of them skidding across a frozen lake.

"You can't do that to him!" Kairi yelled before running onto the lake. Luckily, the frozen surface had a thin layer of show on it, so Kairi didn't slip.

"What she said!" Yuffie yelled, running after Kairi, key-shuriken in hand. However, they both slammed into a force-field just in front of the two fighters.

"What the…" Kairi muttered before something landed lightly on the ice behind her. She turned around and saw a man standing there.

He appeared to be in his late twenties, with a head full of long blonde hair. Three lines of red dye streaked down to the tips of his hair, which happened to be at his waist. His eyes were purple with, upon closer inspection on Kairi's part, gold flecks. His mouth was covered by a piece of ragged cloth, and he wore a black Organization XIII trenchcoat with much of the front decoration torn off.

"You ready to rock, squirt?" he asked. He reached out to each side and summoned two long, slender metal sticks. He lifted them up and crossed them in the air above his head before bringing them down, which sent out several waves of sonic energy.

Waves that unfortunately shattered the ice around them.

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A few feet from the soundproof barrier, Wolverine struggled to fight his opponent. The man was built like an ox: strong and stupid. Closer inspection revealed long fangs. _A mutant?_ Wolverine wondered. Suddenly he realized that he was losing the battle. He panicked, and the other man knocked him onto his back. Suddenly there was a whirring and the snow around him began to swirl. His opponent ran off, grunting heavily.

That was the last Wolverine saw before blacking out.

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Wolverine awoke on a medical table in a small room. Medical devices were stacked along the walls, and a large wood door stood in front of him. He stood up, pulling the I.V drip out of his arm. He noted that he only had his pants on, and that one of the girls who had stowed away in his trailer was lying on the bed next to him, covered only by a sheet. Wolverine contemplated lifting it up, but he hard the faint _whir_ of a security camera in the corner. He looked towards the door and, in one of his split-second moves, ran through it.

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He found himself in a hallway. The walls were plated with some dark wood. He walked over to a room wherein several costumes lay. He remembered a bit more about the rescue from the mysterious fighter. _There was a guy and a girl dressed in these dorky things._ He thought as he handled a black one-piece suit with red Xs on the shoulderpads and chest. They appeared to be made out of leather, but they didn't smell like it.

_Over here._ A man's voice called. This was strange, as the words had appeared in Wolverine's head without his ears checking them. However, the voice sounded like it was coming from the elevator on the far side of the hall. Wolverine walked over, made sure no one was on their way out, then walked inside.

He had grabbed a sweatshirt from the uniforms locker; it was the only piece of normal clothing he could find. He exited the elevator when more words appeared in his head. _This way._ The source was close now, Wolverine could feel it. He moved when the voice hissed _Look out!_ Wolverine hid behind a pillar and saw several teenage children walk out from a set of double-doors. He continued to follow the voice and he ran into a wall. He knocked in different places on the wall until part of the door sprang open, revealing a bald man in a wheelchair and several teenagers. The others who had been stowaways were here too, along with the Puck guy from the cage.

"Ah. Well, read the rest of the assignment as homework, and I'll see you next class." He said. Wolverine realized that this man's voice was the voice that had been talking to his brain the whole way up into this room.

"Who are you people?" Wolverine asked.

"My name is Charles Xavier. Welcome to my school." The man in the wheelchair said, smiling.

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The muscular man (known as Sabertooth) barged through his boss's secret headquarters after beating his target senseless. If the guy hadn't gotten away, he'd be pulp mixed with the water. He saw Toad in one of the chambers. "Weren't you supposed to bring something back?" he asked. Sabertooth grunted and moved on.

He entered Magneto's chamber cautiously, knowing that the old man was far smarter than him. Magneto didn't even get up. "I assume you left the mutant outside?" he asked. Sabertooth shook his head. "Then what, pray tell, did you do with the package?" Sabertooth growled and tossed the dogtags that had been around his opponent's neck to Magneto. The old man examined them. "I shall have to do this myself, then." He muttered before walking away.

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The member of Organization XIII pulled himself out of the lake. He stretched and yawned. "Dude, that was so worth it." He said. He noticed a group of people walking through the woods. Their leader, a man in a red helmet, turned toward the lake and moved forward. Eventually he motioned with his hand and the huge man who had been fighting here before walked forward and attempted to grab the nobody. He ducked under the attack and beat the other man's back with his drumsticks, knocking him down almost to the water. Another opponent rushed forward and the nobody let out a sonic wave that send an extremely long tongue flying in front of him as the other man flew backwards into a tree, his tongue wrapping around a frozen metal pole.

The man in the red helmet walked forward, "I assume you are a member of Organization XIII?" he asked.

"And if I am?" the nobody asked.

"I will eliminate you before you become a threat to my operation." The man said solemnly.

"Well, I was a member of Organization XIII, but not anymore. I'm part of the splinter group." He said proudly.

"Pride is a sin." Magneto reminded him before smiling. "What do you say we join forces? We're obviously both in the same line of work. You know, making the world a better place?"

"For us." The nobody added.

"Indeed. Magneto." Magneto said, extending his arm.

"Gygix." The nobody said, taking it.

A/N: And so the longest chapter so far ends. See you all later for another installment soon!

May your swords stay sharp.


	32. Chapter 29: Villains

Chapter 29: Villains

A/N: 'kay, everybody. This chapter's divided up into different little bits, each revealing one group of enemies Sora and Kairi will face. Various enemies who will not feature until later are revealed, so don't expect all of these villains to suddenly pop up next chapter. I just want to unload the wagon, if you will. Without further ado, Chapter 29!

29A: Fallen Angel

Sylar looked sadly at what had once been the greatest dark magician of all time. Well, there was no time to dwell on it. He picked the body up, careful not to let any blood hit the floor. He opened a broom closet and tossed the body in. "Cliché." He muttered to himself before walking into the sorceress's private quarters.

The room was dark and dank, like Hollow Bastion had been. The desk was shaped like a giant gear with another gear poking up from the floor. Sylar looked down and saw hundreds of gears heading down far past these two. He whistled and the pit echoed back. He allowed himself a wolfish grin and began to move through the desk. However, all of the drawers were full of paper clips, pens and paper save for one, which had a small red button embedded onto the back. Sylar pressed it and there was a rumbling as the gears began to move with jerky, unpredictable motions. The desk turned and soon the area where it had been was a hole with a metal floor. Sylar grinned again and squeezed himself inside it.

The floor moved downwards as Sylar heard others enter the room above. The usurper heard on yell "Dammit, Xemnas, there's nothing here. She's somewhere, and we can't move in until we know she's dead."

The floor continued to move until it reached a sterile white metal hallway. A large steel door marked NO ENTRANCE stood at the other end, and a clockwork guard stood there, musket at the ready. Sylar walked up and snapped is fingers. The soldier lurched and fell into gears and meal sheets as Sylar's telekinesis tore it apart. Sylar walked in through the door and looked out at a room full of vats of darkness. Tubes led from each towards a central glass chamber full of darkness. Sylar walked up to it and looked at the complex control panel. He reached out his hand and channeled another of his many powers. He had liberated this one from a small child on his home world long ago.

The machine lurched and the darkness inside began to twist and coalesce. Eventually it formed into a young woman with green eyes and short black hair clad in a dark robe. Black feathery wings sprouted from her back, but otherwise she looked perfectly normal. Of course, then she used her powers.

"Holy shit." Said Riku, who had been watching from the other side of the room.

29B: Chasers

Thel returned to the Castle out of breath and frightened. If Riz was still alive, who knew what it meant for the rest of the civilized world. Punch and Judy hadn't come back yet, and Thel sensed that they had fallen. He slammed a gloved hand on the wall. "Damn!" he snarled.

"Not having the best day, are we, Thel?" someone asked from the shadows.

"Shut it, Carth." Thel snarled.

"Aaron is so gonna kill you for losing Punch and Judy. How'd you let them die?" Carth asked. He wore light armor with relatively plain patterns.

"FYI, I just saw the greatest threat to our existence back from the grave." Thel snapped back.

"What, closed-circuit television? Look, no one cares what happed. You were directly responsible for the death of two of us, even if you didn't mean it. You know what has to happen.' Carth warned him solemnly, keeping his mask up.

"No, Ven and Rizziel. I'm going to see the High Counsel. Be a good boy, and try not to kill any more kittens, will you?" Thel snarled before vanishing again.

"Son of a bitch." Carth remarked. He sighed and walked towards the High Counsel chamber. This was going to be good.

29C: The New Organization

Exirak sat glumly at the helm of the commandeered Gummi Ship from the Organization's hanger. Behind her, Marx was forming darts out of the air and slamming them into a photograph of Xemnas before making them reappear in his hand. Harxethe piloted the ship with her psychic abilities as she read a tattered magazine. Soon a world came into view. It consisted of a large mountain and had no name that the scanners could read. The world was uninhabited. "Perfect. Bring us down." Exirak ordered.

"Yes, your highness." Harxethe replied sarcastically.

They landed on the world. "Mark, can you turn the mountain into something… nicer?" Exirak asked.

"Way ahead of you." He said, lifting his hands. The mountain trembled and warped before warping into a dark spot. It then expanded into a huge obsidian fortress, complete with Nobodies crawling over it.

"Bravo." Naxis said.

"I've seen better." A short female commented.

"Anxit, you're just jealous 'cause we actually care about his power." Ixara snapped and the two leapt at each other.

"Woo! Catfight!" another male member yelled.

"Gygix, go do something productive. Like, find that Kairi bitch and bring her back." Exirak suggested.

"Meh, if you say so." He said before summoning up a corridor of darkness, "Rock on!" he yelled before running in.

Exirak sighed and rubbed her temples. This was going to take a while.

A/N: Hey folks, how'd you like that? C'mon, you know you loved it! R and R, if you please. Oh, if you can figure out the names of the Organization members before they were Nobodies, tell me in a review. There may be a prize. Or a quiz, if no one reviews.

Plus, just a little poll:

Which new KH title are you most looking forward to?

358 over 2

Birth by Sleep

(God forbid) coded

Just stick it in a review, and everything will be fine, folks.

Peace, love, and all that good stuff.

May your swords stay sharp!


	33. Chapter 30: Death and Life

Chapter 30: Death and Life

A/N: I apologize for the tangents in these last two chapters. I swear this is the last one; I just need to write a little more A.K. And you know something else? Someone's gonna die. Two people, actually. And not just nameless goons, either. Real characters. I also threw in some of the main story to spice things up.

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A.K piloted his dimension bike towards Admiral Thrawn's ship. The Chiss was about to die, whether he knew it or not. It made it all the more sweeter that Thrawn knew this was coming. A.K, however, had lain out the perfect plan, one that even Thrawn would never be able to see through.

A.K stopped his bike at a stop in the middle of interspace and got off, making sure his helmet was sealed and his bike was securely fastened to the station edge. This station was made of silvery metal and it glinted in the light of a nearby sun. A.K briefly wondered what world it had been torn from, t he righted his thought quickly, for Thrawn's Star Destroyer was directly below. The Chaser leapt through the portal and fell slowly towards the ship.

He was pleased to find that the jump had worked perfectly: A.K was standing right atop a turret. He tore it off with his gauntleted hands and hopped in before the airlock closed. He was inside a sterile white hallway with a shocked stormtrooper standing near one end. A.K sighed and shot the poor fellow before moving on towards Thrawn.

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Thrawn sat at his command post when he noticed the airlock breach. He activated security cameras and found nothing save the body of a trooper. Suddenly the screen flashed into static. "A.K. Always with the flashy entrances." Thrawn muttered before contacting each officer. "A.K has breeched our systems. He is currently in hypertime, so have your dry ice ready." He said before standing up as the door opened and A.K appeared a few steps into the room.

"Hello, Thrawn." He said calmly.

"Greetings, commander. I expect there is a reason why Saffron was killed." Thrawn said expectantly.

"She couldn't take the heat and tried to kill me. Naturally, I retaliated. I am private security, you know. Right to bear arms and such. But let's lot concentrate on that. We must rebuild trust between us. Sit down, Admiral." A.K explained. Thrawn sat at the table, and A.K lounged at the other end, is feet up on the tablecloth.

"That cloth is a priceless artifact, commander. Please avoid soiling it if you could." Thrawn rebuked.

"Very well." A.K set his feet on the floor and continued, "How much do you really know about the Keyblades, Admiral?" A.K asked as he stood up and walked around the table.

"I know what I have been told by the Emperor. They are terribly ugly artifact with little artistic value that can open doors. Really quite simple." Thrawn said.

"Let me tell you about them. The Keyblades were created long ago by a man with more power in his little finger than all of your Empire's forces combined. They can be channeled for magic, used as offensive weapons, and used to do many more things the scope of which you cannot imagine. The greatest of them all was the Skeleton Key." A.K put his fist to Thrawn's chest. "But that doesn't really matter, now does it?" he asked before driving his Keyblade into Thrawn's chest. "Admiral, I want you to answer some questions. Firstly, where is the Death Star?"

Thrawn groaned.

"Answer me!" A.K yelled, twisting the Keyblade slightly.

"Alderaan." Thrawn gasped.

"Alderaan? The hell do they want there?" A.K asked.

"Princess Leia… isn't obeying their orders. She won't reveal… the Rebel base."

"I see. What high-ranking officials currently reside within the Death Star?"

"Lord Vader, several Moffs and Grand Moffs, 200 imperial officers and various troops." Thrawn recited just as he had heard it in the last report on the Death Star progression.

"Indeed. One final question. What makes a man?" A.K asked calmly.

"I… don't know."

"Shame, then." A.K said before returning his bloodstained Keyblade to his own hand, leaving Thrawn slumped in a pool of blood.

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Leon was spending his spare time as he normally did, wandering the street of Radiant Garden with his Gunblade and tranquilizer pistol worked into his Guard outfit. Tifa, Aerith and Cloud were at Merlin's house attempting to find Sora, Kairi or Riku. Although he hated to admit it, Leon had a nagging feeling that Sora and the others would return when they were ready, and there was nothing that could find them before that. Still, he kept his mouth shut and looked down every alleyway and every street. When he looked down one alleyway, he saw a local teen smoking something and he walked into stop him. He patted the teen on the back and the boy turned around. There was a gunshot, and Leon slumped to the cold concrete.

"And stay down." The Replica Leon said, holding a smoking Gunblade. He shot Leon in the head for good measure, then tipped the body into a trash vent and walked away.

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"My name is Charles Xavier. I run a school for the mutants of our world. The top levels of the academy are for students. However, the lower levels are something else entirely.

"We are the X-men. Defenders of humanity, though humanity does not know it. Currently we've been looking for a mutant named Magneto, a man who we believe to be in allegiance with Maleficent. We know he wants you for something, Wolverine, but we cannot figure out what. Until that time, I ask that you remain her, safe with us. Do this, and I will help you regain the memories of your past that elude you." Xavier explained, using a slide show as a visual aid, showing slides of Magneto, Maleficent and the like as he went.

"So what you're saying is that you're the good guys?" Wolverine asked.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. Do not forget that we saved you in Canada, and you owe us your life."

"You didn't save me. I could have managed on my own." Wolverine snapped back.

"No doubt your heavy metal skeleton and muscle would have let you just float to the top of the fracturing lake, hm?" Xavier replied, smiling.

The door opened and three people, one man and two women walked in. "Wolverine, this is Cyclops, Storm and Jean Grey, our top X-men. They're the ones who saved you." Xavier said, pointing to each in turn.

"Storm, Cyclops and Jean Grey? Who thought up those names? They sound like those stupid superhero names like Elastigirl and Mister Incredible. It just doesn't work." Wolverine grunted.

"And Wolverine is that much better? Honestly how do you live with yourself?" Kairi asked.

"I eat teenage girls who annoy me." Wolverine explained simply. Yuffie hurried and hid behind Puck, while Kairi hid behind Ven.

"I was joking." Wolverine said, his eyes widening. He two girls didn't move. "There is something really bad behind me, isn't there?" Wolverine deadpanned.

"Indeed there is, Wolverine." Carth said from behind the mutant, smiling warmly. The Chaser had all of his armor from the waist up off, and he wore a black T-shirt. His Keyblade was out and, as the others watched, armor flipped up his torso and head until he was fully encased in armor. "Name's Carth, nice to meet you." He said, holding out his free hand warmly.

"You have no right to be here, Chaser." Xavier said.

"You're right, I don't. That makes it all the sweeter, don't you think?" he asked. "Anyway, I'm just here to tell you Sora's dead, so have a nice few days, everyone!" he yelled cheerfully before vanishing.

A/N: Oh my god, I killed Leon! I'm a bastard!

May your swords stay sharp!


	34. Chapter 31: The Conclave and Theft

Chapter 31: The Conclave and Theft

A/N: WARNING! ANOTHER SEEMINGLY RANDOM TANGENT EXISTS IN THIS CHAPTER! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! Whee, caps lock.

The members of the Celestial Conclave were meeting again, this time discussing the fact that Sora had disappeared, despite their best efforts to find him.

This time, the meeting room was much less bright, and faces could be seen. There were also several more people present, including the members of the Chaser High Council.

"Sora has vanished, as you all well know. We appointed another Keyblade wielder at our last meeting to assist Kairi, but it is crucial that we have another ready should Sora prove to be truly dead. I nominate Myde Davidson. He has shown courage in his travels with Sora, and it will serve him well." The lion said.

"You have a point, Aslan, but Myde disappeared along with Sora, in case you've forgotten." One of the Chasers piped up.

"THAT MAY BE SO, BUT WHO ELSE WOULD YOU HAVE NOMINATED? YOU CANNOT SIMPLY DISMISS _EVERY_ NOMINEE; ELSE THERE WOULD NOT BE ANY MORE KEYBLADE BEARERS AT ALL." The skeleton in the robe pointed out.

"We nominated Riku, but did he get the Keyblade as he was supposed to? No. He went gallivanting about with the late Maleficent and the heartless of Xehanort, so you gave the Keyblade to Sora, his weakling best friend. Then, for good measure, we threw in one for Riku and one for Sora's little gal pal. Honestly, your need for a new Wielder is unnecessary, as Riku is still alive and wielding his Keyblade." The Chaser replied calmly.

"A point, Ara has. Nominated, Riku was. However, fall to the Darkness, he did. Weakness of the spirit, this shows." The small green alien said. Murmurs went through the crowd gathered, except for the Chasers.

"Master Yoda, we understand that Riku is not a prime candidate, but neither was Sora. If Riku is physically strong, he can defeat his enemies." Ara replied.

"Let us not forget that Riku has close ties to both of the Lost Two. If he is weak in spirit, he will not be able to exterminate them, no matter his physical prowess." Professor Xavier said from his wheelchair.

"If we have learned one thing from the past, its not to entrust too much power in one filled with Darkness. It leads to unpleasantness all around." Another of the Chasers spoke up. There wee murmurs of agreement all around, and Ara shot his peer a piercing look.

"I nominate… Squall Leonheart." Someone said from beneath a thick cloak.

"All in favor?" Aslan announced. Several people raised their hands, including three of the Chasers. "Squall Leonheart it is, then!" Several people clapped their hands, and the cloaked man smirked.

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"Sora's… dead?" Kairi asked in shock. The group was sitting in a bedroom in the School, and Kairi had been moping silently on the bed for ten minutes.

"Relax, Kairi. You can't trust your enemies; he's just psyching you out. Sora's fine and you'll be fine too. We'll find him, wait and see. Don't give up hope now." Ven said, sitting down next to her. Kairi looked him in the eyes and broke down into sobs.

"What'd I do?" Ven asked, standing up.

"I'm sorry, it's just… Sora used to look at me just like that. I swear you two have the exact same eye color." Kairi said before sobbing again.

"I am so pissed off at that guy. He just walks in and says 'hey, your best friend's dead, have a nice day,' I mean, what the hell is up with that guy?" Yuffie vented before proceeding to beat a pillow so hard that the feathers fell out.

"Cheer up, it could be worse." Puck pointed out.

"Haven't heard that before." Kairi said sarcastically.

"Go punch yourself in the nuts. Repeatedly." Yuffie ordered him. Puck sighed and moved to the corner, and several yelps of pain were heard.

"You guys, we've got a problem." One of the students yelled as he burst into the room. "Wolverine and Rogue ran off to the subway station. You guys had better hurry." Everyone ran out the door, and the student's eyes flashed yellow before he disappeared.

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The four saviors of the world ran into the dirty, grungy subway station and ran onto the train without purchasing tickets. They sat by Wolverine and Rogue. "What are you doing here?" Rogue asked.

"We're here to stop you from running away. The professor needs you." Kairi explained.

"To hell with the professor. I'm here to get her on her own path." Wolverine explained. Suddenly there was a wrenching noise and the train split into two. An old man stood in the gap, dressed in a cape and red metal helmet. Gygix stood next to him, drumsticks at the ready. Wolverine moved to stop them, but he was flung skyward as the old man raised his hand.

"Magneto, stop this!" Mickey yelled, summoning his Keyblade.

"King Mickey, what a pleasant surprise. And here I thought they were alone. And you brought the Keyblade Wielders too, how marvelous! I suppose I'll take them all, then." He raised one finger and Mickey's Keyblade lodged itself firmly into the ceiling. Magneto then pulled Kairi and Yuffie by the multitude of zippers on their outfits. He tried to pull Ven over, but the Chaser did not budge. Magneto twitched, "I am the master of all metals. How…"

"Do you know the difference between a metal and a metalloid?" Van asked. He charged, but a wave of sound knocked him unconscious, and he was carried away by Sabertooth. Mickey, unable to help, stood in shock as his friends were taken from him, probably straight to Maleficent. Magneto shot a dart into Rogue's back, and he was off, kidnapped persons in tow.

"What'd I miss?" Puck asked as he entered the train car.

A/N: Well, that's that then. Not much more to say. Only one more chapter until the Sora and Pyre fight, so keep a watch out!

May your swords stay sharp!


End file.
